


Heavy

by WinteryGrave



Series: Heavy Series [1]
Category: Primeval
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-21
Updated: 2012-08-21
Packaged: 2017-11-12 14:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/492241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinteryGrave/pseuds/WinteryGrave
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a mission to lock an anomaly goes horribly wrong, Jess and Becker find themselves trapped beneath tons of debris with little hope of rescue. Pre-ship with a bit of Abby/Connor on the side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Good Day

Note: This story takes place sometime between 4.6 and 4.7.

Disclaimer: I own a West Highland Terrier; I do not own Primeval or any of its characters.

Chapter One: A Good Day

Jess loved quiet days at the ARC. They were much too few and far between for her taste as the anomalies seemed to be appearing more and more frequently as time passed. Even days at the ARC with no anomalies ran the risk of excitement in the form of creatures escaping from the menagerie or a seemingly benign plant suddenly turning carnivorous and taking a room full of scientists hostage. But as these rare days wore on without emergencies or crises, people usually became more relaxed. The ADD was a particularly fun place to be on those days as people would gather there to gossip and laugh and enjoy the few moments they were allowed to lower their guard.

Spinning idly in her chair, Jess allowed her mind to wander away from the report she had been proofreading for Lester. It had been four whole days without incident: no anomalies, no creatures, not even a lost ID bracelet to replace. She had spent the past few days like she spent most quiet days at the ARC: catching up on paperwork, tweaking some of Connor's older computer systems, running diagnostics on the ADD, and snooping through personnel files to see if anything had been updated. Unfortunately, after four days of this there was very little left for her to do but to amuse herself and try to pass the time until the next crisis presented itself. As bored as she might have been, she never found herself wishing for an anomaly to break up the monotony of her day. She knew exactly how dangerous they were and would never have wished danger upon her friends or innocent civilians for any reason.

The end of her shift was approaching and she was looking forward to leaving even more so than she usually did out of sheer boredom. Abby and Connor had ridden to work with her that morning and she was looking forward to their evening together: Wednesday nights together had become something of a tradition for them. They would take turns cooking and picking games or movies to watch together. Wrinkling her nose, Jess suddenly remembered that it was Abby's turn to cook dinner. Though Abby was a wonderful flat mate in nearly every respect and extremely gifted in a number of fields, Jess had to admit that cooking was not her strong point. Jess began contemplating the idea of convincing the pair to go out to dinner instead before returning to their flat for an evening of Scrabble- the one game she knew she could win as she had discovered that both Abby and Connor were terrible spellers.

Frowning down at herself, she once again mentally cursed Connor for forgetting to start the washing machine the night before. Due to his folly she had been resigned to wearing jeans and a brown cardigan rather than one of her trademark colorful skirts and sweaters. Though she felt she looked terribly drab in this particular outfit, Abby had assured her that she looked lovely as always. However, she had simply refused to compromise on her shoes and so she was sporting a pair of completely impractical teal stiletto heels that matched the ribbon in her hair. Still, she mused to herself, she was certainly dressed nicely enough for the new Thai restaurant that had opened on the other side of town. Perhaps she could even convince the rest of the team to join them. Goodness knows Matt needed to get out more often. He had been restless, annoying her all day about possible creature sightings and paperwork. The military types never seemed to enjoy the quiet days nearly as much as the civilians and she was sure that Becker had spent the last few days down in the armory sulking over the lack of action.

Becker.

She signed dramatically to herself, letting her head fall back to land on the headrest with an audible thump. She had managed to go nearly two whole hours without thinking about him. Still, she was bored and there were only a few minutes left on her shift, and so she decided to indulge in a little wishful thinking.

She was head-over-heels in love with that man, whether he knew it or not.

When she first met him, she could sense his pain and uneasiness about returning to work at the ARC behind his strong military mask. Since that first meeting, it had become her life's goal to make him smile, perhaps even laugh again. It had not been love at first sight. She did not believe in such a thing outside of Disney movies and romance novels anyway. Admittedly, it had certainly been interest at first sight, maybe even infatuation at first sight. She had fallen in love with her handsome captain over time and the more she got to know him the more desperately she fell in love with him.

Not only was Becker absolutely gorgeous, but he was a gentleman as well. He had always treated her with the utmost respect in spite of her age. He brought her chocolate when she was feeling down or stressed, always careful that there was no orange in it. When he had discovered her walking alone to her car one night, he had scolded her profusely and had insisted on escorting her to her car on the days she did not carpool with Connor and Abby. So few men could be described as chivalrous anymore and he was a refreshing change from most of the men she had met in her life.

And then there was the way he handled himself out in the field. Becker was the consummate soldier: always leading his men bravely into every situation without regard for his own safety. He always put the safety of others before his own, something Jess found both admirable and worrisome. He lived for the action, but mostly, she suspected, he lived to protect the members of his team. And she had certainly not failed to notice how handsome he looked in his uniform.

He was gorgeous, a gentleman, and a superhero in Jess' eyes- she never stood a chance.

The idea that he would ever notice her in any romantic fashion was laughable at best. She was young, awkward, and inexperienced but she simply could not allow herself to give up on the hope that he might someday feel something more for her than professional concern. Over the months they had worked together, they had fallen into a comfortable banter peppered with flirtatious remarks and quips. At times she feared the flirting was mostly one–sided, but there had been moments between them that had given her hope.

They had shared such a moment together very recently at a stakeout when she had shown up unexpectedly to bring him dinner. Becker had walked into a trap set by a madman named Ethan and she had ended up disarming a bomb and saving both their lives. Though the experience had terrified her and she had even less interest than ever in working in the field, she had hoped that the experience would show Becker that she was not just a little girl who was clever with computers, but that she was capable of handling herself in real-life situations. The embrace they had shared after she had diffused the bomb had given her more hope than all their months of casual flirting combined, but unfortunately, the whole experience only seemed to have left him upset that she had ever been in danger and that she had disobeyed his orders to leave him. He had been quieter around her since then and had spent far less time than usual hanging around the ADD. She missed him terribly but did not know how to approach him again.

"It's quitting time, Jess!" Called a chipper voice from across the room, jarring her from her thoughts. "You ready to go?"

She spun around in her chair and smiled to see her two flat mates approaching, Connor bounding across the room with his usual enthusiasm and pulling Abby in tow. "Just finishing up. Two seconds and I'm ready to go!" She turned quickly back to the computer screen to send the corrected document back to Lester and log out. Standing up and stretching she beamed at the pair once again. "How does dinner out sound? I'm dying to try out that new Thai place we were talking about last night."

After his stint in the Cretaceous Era, food was never too far from Connor's mind, and he nearly always jumped at the chance to eat out (especially, Jess had noticed, when it was Abby's turn to cook). He nodded enthusiastically, sneaking a knowing wink at Jess before turning to Abby. "What do you say, Abs? Thai sound good?"

Abby smiled at his excitement. "Sounds good to me. I didn't fancy cooking tonight anyway."

Jess' smile grew even broader as she hopped down from the platform to stand between the two of them, looping an arm through each of theirs.

"You're in a good mood," Abby remarked.

"A very good mood," Connor observed with a sly grin. "Did a certain soldier boy bring you chocolate today or something?"

"Connor!" Abby admonished, though she too was smiling at Jess with a mischievous glint in her eye.

Jess ignored them and simply shrugged. "Any day my friends aren't in mortal peril in a good day for me."

"Fair enough," Connor conceded, his thoughts turning back to dinner. "Shall we?"

To Jess' disappointment, they did not run into Becker or Matt on their way out of the ARC and she did not dare suggest to Abby and Connor that they invite them, knowing they would only teaser her about her crush for the rest of the evening. Refusing to allow this minor misfortune to ruin her day, she reminded herself that there would be another time when things would work in her favor. Perhaps it was for the best until Becker worked through whatever was bothering him.


	2. A Quiet Calm

Chapter Two- A Quiet Calm

Becker was bored. It was the fourth day in a row without a single anomaly sighting and he was beginning to feel restless. He enjoyed a quiet day from time to time as they gave him a chance to catch up on paperwork, train with his men, and inspect the ARC's security systems. Unfortunately, he had proven to be far too efficient a worker for his own good and by lunch on the third day he was completely out of things to do.

Such a long break between anomalies had become unusual as they were growing more and more frequent as time passed. What Becker found most disconcerting was the lack of explanation for the shift in the anomalies' behavior. Of course, as Connor was always quick to point out when Becker mentioned this, there was still no logical explanation for the very existence of the anomalies, and so it was unreasonable to expect him to be able to explain this newest development. While most people accepted this unpredictability as part of life at the ARC, Becker found it intensely frustrating. Fighting an enemy he could not understand was hard enough, but now the enemy was changing tactics, evolving into something different, and he had no way of stopping it.

Most everyone at the ARC loved these quiet days. Even Lester could seem almost cheerful on days without incident. But the military personnel, especially Becker, had a hard time enjoying these days as much as their scientist colleagues did. Most of the soldiers resented quiet days simply for their lack of action, but Becker personally felt that quiet days could be just as dangerous as those packed with anomalies and creature incursions. He knew from experience that it was usually in those peaceful moments when you were not on your guard that tragedy would strike. Matt frequently pointed out to him that living in constant fear was a rotten way to exist, but Becker disagreed. Fear keeps you fast, keeps you sharp, he had argued. People make foolish mistakes when they become too sure of themselves.

However, after four days of waiting, even Becker was finding it difficult to remain focused. His men were becoming increasingly rowdy as a result of the pent up tension. He had given them every task he could think of the past few days to keep them occupied, including ordering the inspection and testing of every gun and EMD in the armory, but now they were just as bored as he was. Their energy was doing nothing to improve the sullen mood he found himself in and so after lunch on the fourth day he retreated to the relative peace and solitude of the locker room to disassemble and clean his own guns for the third time in as many days. It was something he usually found relaxing, as the familiar chore usually afforded him the chance to escape from whatever was bothering him and focus entirely upon the task at hand. But as he settled into his work his mind slowly drifted to the very subject he had been so carefully avoiding thinking of for nearly two weeks.

Jess.

Slamming the pistol in his hand down onto the table in frustration, he leaned back in the chair and rubbed his face with one hand. He had been avoiding thinking about her since the incident with Ethan's bomb, but not thinking about her was proving to be an even greater distraction than thinking about her. Before that fateful night, Becker had always spent a great deal of time hanging around the ADD, more than was really necessary for his job, if he was being honest. But since then he simply could not bring himself to face her. He was having an even more difficult time facing the reasons why he had been so affected by what had happened.

Jess was a complete enigma to him. He had been fascinated with her since the first moment he laid eyes on her. Of course, in his defense, she was hardly easy to miss.

The first thing he had noticed about her, once he had recovered from the initial shock of her age and exceptionally cheerful disposition, were her shoes. Whereas nearly everyone who worked in the ARC wore comfortable shoes to work in as a safety precaution- even Lester had learned to wear shoes he could run in- Jess seemed to have a different philosophy. Nearly every day she displayed a different pair of ridiculously feminine heels that Becker was impressed she could walk in.

Even more shocking than her ability to walk in those shoes was her ability to skip in them. Jess walked with a spring in her step that he himself and many of the more seasoned team members had long since lost. She had an innocence about her that went beyond her age and lack of experience: she was sweet. It was really the only word to describe her. While he worried constantly about whether or not his people were carrying enough ammunition and training hard enough, she worried about people remembering to eat a good dinner and that they dressed warmly enough while they were out chasing monsters.

However, Becker had quickly learned that Jess was as capable at her job as she was cheerful. He had not expected the strength and skill with which she commanded the ADD to come from someone so young. Whereas in person she was sweet and hardly intimidating, when she was behind the ADD she was professional, organized, and completely in charge. He trusted her with his life, something he had not considered possible after the tragedies of the last year. No matter how badly a mission was going, her voice in his earpiece helped keep him focused and calm and her guidance and technical support had saved his life more times than he cared to admit.

Becker could not help but be drawn to her by her joy and warmth. She was beautiful, brilliant, witty, and the most caring person he had ever met. He found himself constantly plotting ways to make her smile- bringing her chocolate, teasing her about her shoes, even whispering jokes about Lester in her ear so no one else could hear. He even liked how much she talked. It was amazing that the same quality he found so annoying in Connor he found sweet and endearing in another. He loved how flustered she would get when she talked herself into a corner without ever having to say a word himself. He barely recognized the person he was turning into. Seeing her was the highlight of his day and he often caught himself thinking of her even when he was not at work. Jess was proving to be a dangerous distraction from the isolated life he had made for himself.

He had lost far too many friends to the anomalies to ever allow himself to drop his guard. His job was too dangerous for him to allow himself to become attached to people. Stephen, whom Becker had never met but had often heard the others speak of, had been the first from the original team to die, and his death had shocked the whole team. Until then, the risks of the job had not seemed real. They had all had too many close calls that they could laugh about later. Then Cutter. Abby and Connor. Danny. Even though Abby and Connor had returned, he could not let go of the pain he had felt in losing them.

Sarah's death had hit him the hardest. It had been so sudden, so soon after the others. She had been his partner in searching for the others, the only one he truly believed understood how he felt and felt the same sense of responsibility for finding them. But she had been ripped away from him by a creature from another time, his last ally snatched away before his eyes. The others had simply disappeared- presumed dead, but hope remained that they could be saved. Becker had watched Sarah die in front of him, torn to pieces before he could even react. Her screams still haunted his dreams and his guilt over having failed her had consumed him.

The incident from a few weeks earlier with the bomb was simply unacceptable. Not only had he been foolish enough to walk right into Ethan's trap, but he had allowed Jess to put herself in danger as well. She had performed admirably, handling herself with more composure and bravery than many new recruits did their first time out in the field, but he knew it should never have come to that. As grateful as he was for having saved his life, he could not overcome the gnawing guilt that she had nearly died in order to do so. She did not seem to understand the fact that seemed so obvious to him: He was replaceable. She was not.

Which was exactly why he had been avoiding her ever since. He missed her terribly, but it could not be helped. The situation had opened his eyes to a threat he had not previously considered: he had been so concerned with keeping himself from developing emotional attachments to the people he worked with that he had not bothered to consider that someone might become attached to him. He knew he needed to push her away before he grew any more dependent upon her, but part of him simply could not let her go.

Somewhere along the way he had fallen in love with Jess Parker. And he simply could not let that happen. He believed that someday his luck would run out in the field and he would share the same fate as Sarah and the others. What was more, he deserved nothing less. Jess deserved nothing short of a prince and a fairy tale happy ending and no matter how desperately he wished that she might settle for him, he refused to rob her of what she deserved.

A locker slamming behind him jarred him from his reverie and he turned quickly to face the intruder.

"Time to call it a day," Matt announced, pulling on his jacket and stepping back from his locker.

Becker glanced at his watch and was surprised to find that he was right. He had been working in the locker room for nearly three hours and had not noticed. He stood up from the small table, shrugging his shoulders to release the tension in them from sitting still for so long and began clearing away his things. Matt appeared at his side and surveyed the freshly cleaned weapons Becker was packing away.

"Looks like you had a fun day," he remarked dryly as he picked up a pistol to inspect. "Personally, I'm not really sure how much more of this sitting around and waiting I can take." He returned the pistol to its place on the table and turned to face Becker. "Want to get a drink? I know a place not far from here."

Becker stopped packing away his guns and raised his eyebrow questioningly at Matt. "A drink?" He and Matt worked well together and had even become friendly over the past few months, but they were far from drinking buddies. "Isn't Emily expecting you?"

Matt glanced at his watch and shook his head. "Nah, not for a while yet. Come on," he persuaded him, "I know you. You've been as on edge as I have these past few days. And let's face it- you need to get out of this place. When's the last time you went out somewhere besides the shooting range?"

Becker sighed. He could not deny he was desperate to get away from the ARC. He was hardly eager to return to his solitary flat where there was nothing to distract himself from his thoughts. Also, he was intrigued by Matt's sudden attempt at friendship and suspected an ulterior motive lurking behind the simple invitation. "A drink, then," he conceded, curiosity getting the better of him, as he locked his weapons' case in his locker. "Alright."

"Good." He paused for a moment. "You don't want to change first?" Matt asked, glancing at Becker's uniform.

Becker shrugged his jacket on and began checking his pockets. "What's wrong with this?"

Matt rolled his eyes. "Do you even own civvies?"

Becker ignored him and held up the keys to his truck. "I'm driving."


	3. Broken Silence

Chapter Three- Broken Silence

"So, how've you been, Becker?" Matt asked, breaking the awkward silence in Becker's truck that had been present since they had left the ARC's parking garage several minutes before.

Becker cast a sidelong glance at him. "Fine." He answered shortly. Matt had never been one for small talk before and Becker found his sudden interest in his well-being suspicious. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. Just haven't seen you around much these past few weeks. You've been spending a lot of time in the armory."

"No more than usual." Becker replied cautiously.

Matt shook his head. "I know you love the armory more than anyone, Becker, but for the past few weeks you've hardly come out except to respond to the anomalies." Matt watched his face carefully for a reaction as he prepared his next comment. "Ever since that incident with Ethan and the bomb, now that I think about it."

"Hmm." Becker answered noncommittally, fighting to keep his face neutral. As a soldier, he recognized an interrogation when he saw one. Matt's sudden interest in his daily routine was extremely out of character and Becker had a sinking feeling he knew where this inquiry was headed.

"You've been in a bit of a mood ever since then, you know." Matt continued, pretending not to notice Becker's unease.

"A mood?" Becker repeated sarcastically.

"Connor's word, not mine," he said with a shrug, "but he's not wrong. You've definitely been, well, more Becker than usual. Connor and I aren't the only ones who have noticed. Abby and Lester are worried about you as well. Lester seems to think you might be about to snap."

"I've had work to do." Becker explained tersely, hoping Matt would accept the flimsy excuse without further questions. "I'm the Head of Security. It's not an easy job keeping you and your people alive, you know. I don't have time to hang around socializing at the water cooler with the rest of you."

"Ah, of course." Matt paused for a moment before continuing. "Which would explain why you've been so carefully avoiding the ADD."

"I have not been avoiding anything," Becker shot back, his tone growing threatening. "I told you, I've had work to do."

"So this sudden work ethic has nothing to do with a certain field coordinator with a fondness for short skirts and chocolate?"

Becker's knuckles turned white as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel, knowing he had been caught. "Jess is good at her job. She's a valuable asset to my team. That's all."

Matt nodded, smiling to himself in triumph, knowing he had finally hit a nerve. His original plan had been to wait to bring up the subject until after he had gotten a few drinks in Becker, however, questioning him when he was cornered in a vehicle and unable to hit him was certainly proving to have its advantages. "Right, good to know. So you wouldn't mind if I asked her out then?"

Becker braked at a red light much harder than was necessary and turned to glare at Matt who was smirking back at him.

"Don't worry, mate, I'm not going to steal your girl away from you. If you like her, you should ask her out. Take her to dinner or the firing range or something."

Becker turned his attention back to the road as the light turned green and traffic began to move again. "It's… complicated." he answered.

Matt rolled his eyes. "It's always complicated, Becker. But she isn't going to wait around forever."

"If you asked me for a drink so we could talk about our feelings, then-"

"Who's talking about feelings?" Matt asked innocently. "I'm just making conversation."

Becker's mobile rang and he snatched it up without checking the caller ID, thankful for the interruption. "Becker." He answered. "It's the ARC," he explained to Matt a moment later. "Right," he said, balancing the phone between his ear and his shoulder and reaching for the truck's sat nav, "what are the coordinates?"

Matt searched his pockets for his own phone only to discover it missing. He cursed himself for having forgotten it at the ARC and waited impatiently for Becker to finish the call so he could fill him in.

"Looks like we're going to have to get that drink some other time," Becker said as he ended the call. "An anomaly just opened a few blocks from here. Abby and Connor are en route and a security team will meet us there." He looked to Matt for approval.

Matt nodded. "Let's do it."

Becker slammed on the brakes and threw the truck into a sharp U-turn before speeding off in the opposite direction, weaving in and out of traffic, and racing through yellow lights.

"Next time, I am definitely driving," Matt commented, his voice sounding slightly strained as Becker narrowly avoided colliding with an SUV as he cut across traffic.

Becker ignored his criticism and instead focused on navigating through the increasingly congested city streets. They reached the coordinates within a matter of minutes: it was a construction site in the middle of a district of London that was undergoing major renovations. Becker vaguely remembered reading something in the paper about tearing down the older buildings to make way for a new office center. Most of the buildings had been gutted and the roads had been torn up, leaving bumpy dirt paths where paved roads had once been. What little space there was between the buildings was taken up by heavy construction equipment and trailers. The area seemed to be completely deserted, all the workers having gone home for the night. Becker noticed a guard's station near the front of the site that was still empty. He guessed that the night watchman had not yet arrived for his shift and he made a mental note to have someone check on that as soon as the anomaly site was secured.

"Nice neighborhood," Matt remarked, surveying the bleak construction site. "At least we won't have to worry about civilians getting in the way."

"This is it," Becker said, indicating one of the smaller office buildings with a nod of his head. He circled the building once before turning down the ramp leading into the underground parking garage the relief field coordinator had described. The garage was surprisingly large for such a small building, at least fifty meters across with a high ceiling. The power to the building had been turned off and so there were no lights save for the dim light coming from the anomaly itself, which was located almost in the exact center of the garage. Becker switched on the headlights to illuminate the garage before parking at the bottom of the ramp about twenty meters from the anomaly.

"Doesn't look like anything's come through," Matt observed as he climbed out of the truck.

"Yet." Becker added darkly. "Hold up," he said as Matt started to walk towards the anomaly. He walked around to the bed of the truck and lowered the tailgate.

Matt joined him and peered into the truck bed. "What's all this?" he asked indicating several large metal cases packed neatly inside.

Becker selected one of the closer cases and unlocked it, producing two EMDs. Handing one to Matt, he explained, "I like to be prepared."

"Are they all weapons?" Matt asked suspiciously, already knowing the answer.

Becker nodded curtly. "Of course." He pulled off his jacket and tossed it into the bed of the truck before pulling on his spare tac vest and slamming the tailgate closed. "Let's secure the perimeter before the others get here."

Weapons raised, they approached the wall to the right. Becker noted an elevator in the far corner of the garage that he suspected would not be operational and a set of stairs next to it which presumably led to the ground floor of the office building above. It never hurt to have an exit strategy in case something went wrong, he reminded himself.

"What are all these wires for?" Matt asked, stooping next to the wall to have a closer look.

Becker pulled a small flashlight from his vest and panned the light down the wall to follow the wires back to their source. They ran all the way along the wall and up to the next floor through a series of small holes drilled into the ceiling. "This building is scheduled for demolition tomorrow," he said, recalling his brief conversation earlier with the relief field coordinator. "The construction crew must have gone ahead and set the wires for the charges." He spotted several crates stacked a few feet away and went to investigate.

Matt turned quickly to look at Becker. "This place is wired to blow? Brilliant."

Becker shook his head. "They haven't placed the detonators yet," he said, reaching into the box and producing one. "We should be safe. Just don't… touch anything."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Should be safe? With our luck?"

Becker conceded the point with a shrug of his shoulders and carefully replaced the detonator in the crate. "Then let's hope Connor gets here soon with a locking device before anything comes through."

Matt nodded. "Aye." He glanced at his watch. "They should be here soon."

They completed the rest of their search in silence before returning to the truck to wait for the others to arrive.

"Matt," Becker said slowly, carefully avoiding looking at the other man, "what we were talking about before…"

Matt looked at him with interest, wondering what else Becker might reveal about his personal life. "Yeah?"

"If you tell anyone, I'll shoot you."

Matt chuckled to himself. "Fair enough." He paused for a moment, listening intently. "I think I hear a car outside."

"Go check if it's Connor and Abby. I'll stay here."

Becker watched Matt jog back up the ramp and out of the garage before turning back to face the anomaly. He walked toward it slowly, weapon raised, staring into the light with intense concentration as though he was willing himself to see through to the other side. Behind him he heard a car pull into the garage and he relaxed slightly when he heard Connor and Abby's voices asking Matt about the anomaly.

But when a fourth voice, one he knew all too well, joined the conversation, his relief turned to panic. He spun quickly just in time to see Jess hop out of her car and turn to smile and wave at him.


	4. For the Best

Chapter Four- For the Best

Becker watched as Jess parked her small car next to his truck at the bottom of the entrance ramp and hopped cheerfully out to greet Matt while Connor and Abby climbed out of the backseat. Matt briefed them on the situation as Becker slowly walked back to the vehicles while trying to decide how to handle the situation.

"Right," Connor announced, opening the trunk of Jess' car with a flourish, "one locking device, as promised. Where do you want it set up?"

"Over there," Matt answered, indicating a spot halfway between the anomaly and their cars. "Will that do?"

"Yup," Connor answered as he started pulling equipment out. "Help me set it up?"

Matt nodded and joined Connor and Abby at the back of Jess' car, noting with some surprise the amount of equipment crammed into the tiny space.

"You keep an anomaly locking device in your car?" he asked Jess curiously.

"It's Connor's," Abby explained with a small smile, grabbing a smaller case. "He never goes anywhere without one. Honestly, I'm just glad he hasn't taken to showering with one," she teased.

"Yes, well, useful now, isn't it?" Connor shot back with a wink.

Becker rolled his eyes at their flirtatious banter and waited for the group to disappear around his truck before turning his attention to Jess who was peering curiously into the bed of his truck at the arsenal concealed within.

"Do you think you have enough guns in here, Becker?" she asked with a mischievous grin.

"Jess," he greeted her stiffly, stepping towards her, "what are you doing here?"

He saw her smile falter slightly at the coolness of his tone, but he did not back down.

"Abby and Connor rode to work with me this morning. We were on our way to get dinner when they got the call about the anomaly, so I had to bring them here," she explained. "Also, I need to-"

"Fine," he said, cutting her off. "Then you should get back to the ARC and take over coordinating things from there."

"Well, sure, but first I need to-"

"No 'buts,' Jess," Becker snapped impatiently, immediately regretting his harsh tone when she flinched, but he refused to allow himself to be distracted. Seeing Jess this close to an anomaly was causing him to panic, bringing back a rush of memories of all the people he had failed to protect in the past. It was a scenario that had played out in his nightmares dozens of times over but that he had never expected to encounter in reality. "You should leave. Now."

"Becker, is everything okay?" She asked in a low voice, stepping towards him, her eyes full of concern.

He took a step back, distancing himself from her, and glanced at his watch, avoiding her question. "Where the hell is back up?" he demanded under his breath.

"What's in the crates?" He heard Connor call curiously. Turning, he saw Connor wandering away from his equipment to inspect one of the crates in question.

"Do not touch those, Connor!" Becker yelled threateningly, causing Connor to freeze in his tracks.

"Explosives," Matt explained. "And Becker's right: no touching."

"Yup, definitely not touching," Connor said, holding up his hands and backing away from the crates, hastily retreating back to Abby who handed him his laptop and patted the crate next to her, inviting him to sit.

"How long until backup gets here?" Matt called to Becker as he helped set up the locking device.

Becker gritted his teeth in frustration and was preparing to unleash some of his anger on Matt when Jess piped up.

"That's what I was trying to tell you!" she interjected nervously before Becker had a chance to start yelling again, holding up her mobile. "I spoke with the relief field coordinator on the way here. She tried to call you, but there isn't any service down here. There was a car accident not far from the ARC and the security team is stuck in traffic. It might be a while before they can get here. Wait, here-"

She opened the small case she was holding and produced two ear pieces and two black boxes, handing one of each to Becker. He grabbed the equipment gratefully, hooking the earpiece over his ear and snapping the black box onto his belt.

"All right, Jess," he said, softening his tone. "You delivered your message- you can go now."

"Look, so long as she's here, she may as well stay and help," Matt argued as he walked back to grab the last piece of equipment from Jess' car.

"Absolutely not," Becker said flatly, glaring dangerously at Matt. "She doesn't need to be here."

"Oh, no, I don't think I-" Jess stammered, glancing nervously toward the anomaly and then back at Becker. "I mean, I really shouldn't stay; I'm not supposed to be-"

"Not down here, Jess," Matt said patiently, plucking the second earpiece from her hand. "We need you and it'll take too long for you to get back to the ARC. You can monitor the CCTVs from the guard's station on the other side of the construction site and coordinate with the security team when they get here."

"Oh, sure, I could do that!" Jess said eagerly, clearly relieved that Matt was not suggesting she help with the actual anomaly. "I should have everything I need on my laptop."

"Excellent," Matt said, nodding to Becker before returning to Connor and Abby on the other side of the garage.

Jess retreated back to her car to retrieve her laptop, but Becker stepped toward her, tossing his EMD into the cab of his truck, and grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face him. Hidden from view in between their two vehicles, his face inches from hers, he lowered his voice so the others could not hear him.

"I don't care what Matt thinks, Jess, you should get out of here before something goes wrong." He hated the needy tone that colored his voice, but professionalism was the furthest thing from his mind at that moment.

"Becker, don't be silly, I'll be perfectly fine in the guard's station." Her smile did not quite reach her eyes as she reassured him and he knew she did not understand the reason for his anger at her presence.

He shook his head emphatically. He released her arm but did not step away from her, instead moving even closer to emphasize his height as he towered over her. Taking a deep breath, he took a moment to choose his next words carefully, already hating himself for what he was going to say.

"Jess, you aren't trained to be in the field. You shouldn't be anywhere near here. Get in your car and go back to the ARC now," he ordered. "I can't do my job properly if I'm worrying about a techie out where they don't belong. Your being here puts everyone else in danger. Leave."

It was cruel and mostly untrue. She tried to keep her face devoid of emotion, but her eyes betrayed to him how hurt she was at his words. The only thing he could think of was getting her as far away from the anomaly as possible. He sincerely regretted hurting her, the expression on her face cutting him even more deeply than his words had cut her, but knew it was for the best. The sooner she learned to stay away from him, the safer she would be.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, eyes downcast, refusing to meet his gaze. Her shoulders slumped in defeat and Becker knew he had won the argument. "All right, tell Matt I'll-"

Exactly what he was supposed to tell Matt, Becker never found out as the rest of Jess' sentence was drowned out by a deafening animal roar that echoed ominously out of the anomaly into the deserted garage.


	5. Fight to the Death

Chapter Five- Fight to the Death

Everyone froze, staring at the anomaly.

"Connor, get it locked now!" Becker ordered, starting toward his truck to retrieve his weapon but stopping a moment later as an enormous figure came charging out of the anomaly, pausing briefly as though surprised by the sudden change in its surroundings.

"It's an Allosaurus," Connor said without moving, his voice just loud enough for Becker to hear. He was sitting just meters away from the giant dinosaur, frozen in place and staring up at it.

"Is that bad?" Jess whispered loudly, edging toward Becker nervously.

Becker surveyed the creature, sizing it up. It reminded him of the pictures Connor had once shown him of a Tyrannosaurus rex, except considerably smaller and with an elongated body. He edged closer to Jess as he watched the creature, waiting for it to make the first move.

"Uh… it's not good," Connor answered.

The Allosaurus snapped its head toward Connor, attracted by the sound of his voice.

"Connor, move!" Abby ordered, stepping forward and grabbing his arm, she pulled him away from the equipment as the creature started toward them, roaring threateningly and snapping its jaws.

Connor tripped over his equipment as Abby dragged him to his feet and would have brought them both down if Matt had not been there to grab his other hand and pull him back up, dropping his EMD in the process. The three backed away quickly toward the wall of the garage. The dinosaur moved after them with impressive speed for its size, quickly catching up to them. Abby pulled Connor behind one of the large concrete columns that lined the parking garage and Matt leapt to the side as the creature lunged for them, narrowly missing being caught in its powerful jaws.

"Look out!" Matt yelled a warning as the dinosaur turned, swinging its powerful tail out at the column separating it from its prey, sending chunks of concrete flying. Connor pushed Abby out of the way as a smaller piece connected with the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.

Jess screamed as Connor fell, drawing the creature's attention to herself and Becker for the first time. Becker had no time to retrieve his weapon from his truck as the creature charged at the cars. Seeing the creature's intention, he grabbed Jess from behind, pulling her with him as he backed out from between the two vehicles and forcing her to the ground, ducking to cover her as the dinosaur turned, striking her small car with its powerful tail, flipping it onto its side. The car missed hitting them by inches, slamming into the side of Becker's truck with incredible force. Jess shrieked as glass and bits of metal exploded down onto them.

Quickly losing interest in the demolished car, the dinosaur turned its attention to the two humans who lay at its feet and let out another deafening roar and reared back, preparing to strike. Becker could smell rotting flesh and blood on the enormous lizard's hot breath and Jess shrieked again and buried her face in his vest. Certain that the end was near, he tightened his grip on Jess and ducked his head.

"Hey!" He heard Matt yell. "Over here!"Becker raised his head slightly to see Matt approaching from the side, advancing on the creature with his EMD raised. Behind him, Becker could see Connor lying on the ground, still unconscious and Abby back at the equipment trying desperately to lock the anomaly. The creature turned away from Jess and Becker to observe this new interruption. Matt fired his EMD twice, but the weapon had little effect on the maddened beast. Matt cursed but did not back away, trying to give Abby time to get the anomaly locked.

"Abby?" he called over his shoulder, never taking his eyes off the dinosaur.

"I need a minute!" she replied as she bent down to inspect the screen of Connor's laptop.

"You may not have a minute!" Matt warned.

The creature now stood halfway between the two groups of people, apparently trying to decide whom to attack first.

"Don't move!" Becker breathed into Jess' ear, fearing that any movement might draw the creature's attention back to them. He felt her nod her agreement against his chest.

The momentary silence was broken suddenly when a deafening animal roar echoed through the empty parking garage. Everyone, even the Allosaurus, stopped and turned to look towards the anomaly as a second creature emerged. It was another Allosaurus, even larger than the first. It let out another terrible roar, apparently challenging the other dinosaur, which turned completely to face the newcomer. Becker seized the momentary distraction to climb to his feet, pulling Jess along with him and slowly back away from the creature toward the far wall opposite Matt, Jess, and Connor, keeping himself between Jess and the dinosaur the whole way. He desperately wished he could return to his truck to retrieve his EMD, or even better, a real gun, but he did not dare move that close to the creature and he would not leave Jess alone to do so.

The two giant beasts rushed at each other, crashing into on another with enough force to make the structure tremble. The noise was terrible as they ripped at one another's flesh in a desperate fight for dominance in the new territory.

"Matt," Becker said quietly into his earpiece, "Matt, you and Abby get Connor out of here. Secure the gate to the entrance ramp; we can't let those things get out of here. Jess and I will get out up the stairs and through the building." From across the garage he saw Matt nod his agreement and say something to Abby, who was still struggling with Connor's computer and a moment later she succeeded in locking the anomaly. Becker watched as Matt and Abby pulled Connor up between them and slowly retreated up the ramp and out of the garage. He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the gate slam closed and turned his mind back to the situation at hand. He could feel Jess pressed against his back and he turned his head to address her quietly.

"Don't worry, Jess, we're getting out of here." he reassured her. "Just stay behind me and stick close, all right?"

He waited for her to nod her agreement, which she did hesitantly.

"Okay, let's get moving."

Of all the ways her evening could possibly gone, this was one scenario Jess would never have imagined in her wildest dreams. Well, she conceded to herself after a moment of reflection, perhaps in her wildest, more nightmarish-type dreams, but certainly not her normal dreams. What had started out as a perfectly pleasant evening out with friends had gone as wrong as possible in less than an hour: there was an anomaly, Becker was angry with her, Connor was injured, and now she was trapped in a parking garage with Becker and two enormous creatures looking to rip her to pieces. She could not remember the last time she had been this terrified, but she willed herself to stay calm long enough to get out alive with Becker. There would be time for a panic attack later, she told herself firmly, tightening her grip on the back of Becker's vest.

She carefully inched along the wall behind Becker, cursing her choice in footwear with every step. Becker and Abby might have had a good point about her shoes at work. She tried to avoid watching the fighting dinosaurs as she found it easier not to panic when she focused on watching her own feet but every few moments she would sneak a peek around Becker's wide shoulder's to check on their progress and their position in relation to the two fighting creatures. They had barely made it ten meters when she glanced up and noticed the dinosaurs were moving towards Connor's equipment. As the larger creature dodged a wild attack from the smaller, it's deadly tail swept behind it, knocking over the laptop and locking device. The anomaly unlocked, springing back to its normal size as it reopened. Through his vest, she felt Becker tense as he observed this new development.

"Change of plans, Jess," he said quietly, pausing and turning to face her. "I want you to get out of here. Stick as close to the wall as you can and get out up those stairs. Once you get outside, find Matt and the others and wait for back up."

"Okay," she said breathlessly, glancing toward the exit, too terrified to argue. Fifty meters had never seemed so far away. "Wait, what about you?" she asked, realizing he had not included himself in those plans.

He shook his head. "I've got to get the anomaly locked again before anything else comes through. Once it's locked I'll meet you outside with Matt and the others."

"That's completely insane!" Jess whispered fiercely. "Matt locked the gate, so nothing is getting out of here."

"It's my job to secure that anomaly. It wasn't a suggestion, Jessica. Go now, please!"

She opened her mouth to voice another argument, but stopped when she saw the pained expression on his face.

"All right," she agreed hesitantly.

"Just stick to the wall. You'll be fine." He reassured her.

"Please be careful!" she whispered after him.

She slowly inched along the wall toward the stairs Becker had indicated, keeping her back pressed tightly against the cool concrete. She watched nervously as he advanced across the open garage to his truck, keeping a close eye on the fight as he did. He turned back once to check her progress and nodded to her, motioning for her to keep moving. She sighed with relief when he reached the truck, hoping that he would find what he was looking for quickly and get out of harm's way.

Jess could not believe the fight had lasted as long as it had. The noise was terrible: snarling, roars of anger, and shrieks of pain. Both were now bloody and mangled, but neither was going to back down. The fight had ranged all over the garage, the two creatures crashing into the concrete columns and walls indiscriminately as they fought, but now the fight was beginning to move back to the truck. She noted with alarm that Becker had not yet seen this because his back was turned as he searched his truck for something.

Unable to stop herself, she shrieked, "Becker, look out!"

He approached the truck cautiously, crouching to stay out of sight. He knew he did not have much time to get the anomaly locked and get out of the garage. So long as the fight continued he knew he and Jess would be of little interest to the creatures, but as soon as it ended the victor would immediately turn its attention back to them.

Jess' car was pushed up against the passenger side of his truck from the first attack, effectively blocking it, leaving the driver's door the only way in. Unfortunately, this meant turning his back to the fighting dinosaurs as he searched the truck. He took a deep breath to steady himself and then pulled the driver's door open. Taking one last look at the fighting creatures, he turned quickly and leaned into the truck, searching for the case he kept tucked under the back seat. Matt's arrival at the ARC had marked the start of many new policies, chiefly, as far as Becker was concerned, the replacement of real weapons with EMDs. However, old habits die hard, and Becker had been careful to keep one of his personal favorites stashed in his truck in case of emergencies.

He was so focused on finding the case he momentarily forgot about the danger behind him and he became lost in his task. Hearing Jess call his name, he spun to see what had caused her alarm.

The larger creature had the other by its throat. The smaller was desperately trying to free itself, thrashing wildly and dragging the other creature backwards toward his truck. Realizing, as Jess had, that he had only seconds before he would be caught in the middle of their fight, he did the only thing he could think of: he threw himself into the cab of the truck and slammed the door closed behind him.

Jess watched in horror as the fighting creatures stumbled backwards toward Becker, gasping audibly as he threw himself into the interior of the truck just before the dinosaurs reached him. Just before they hit the cars, the larger dinosaur seemed to regain his balance and pulled the smaller back. Before Jess could even register this stroke of good fortune, she realized what the larger animal was planning. Tightening its jaws around the smaller dinosaur's neck, it reared back, using its powerful neck muscles to throw the smaller into the cars. The force of the impact sent the truck sliding across the garage, where it smashed into the concrete wall, shattering most of the windows.

The larger dinosaur roared victoriously, waiting for the other to get up. The smaller managed to climb to its feet, staggering back several steps as it did so. Turning her attention away from the fight, Jess made a decision. She pushed herself away from the safety of the wall and ran as quickly as she could back along the wall to the badly damaged truck.

"Becker!" she gasped when she reached the truck, looking in one of the smashed in windows. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he answered with a groan, reaching out to grab her outstretched hand to pull himself up. "I thought I told you to get out?"

She ignored his question and helped him pull himself off the floor and back into the driver's seat. He was covered in glass and had a few small cuts but seemed to be mostly unharmed. "Can we go now, please?"

"Hang on." He turned away from her to reach into the backseat of his truck again. She turned back to keep an eye on the fight, wringing her hands nervously. As she surveyed the garage she noticed the light from the anomaly beginning to flicker and dance in a worrying manner.

"Becker," she warned, "the anomaly, I think it's-"

There was no need to finish her sentence as a moment later the anomaly winked out of existence, leaving the garage dimly lit, now only illuminated by the headlights from the two wrecked automobiles. The awkward angles of the lights cast strange shadows across the expanse of the garage. Becker climbed out of the truck and landed beside her, holding up his prize for her to see.

"No more toy guns," he explained calmly as he loaded the shotgun. Under normal circumstances she might have rolled her eyes at his obsession with his shotgun, but at that moment Jess knew she had never been happier to see a real gun in her life. She saw him cast a quick glance around the garage, taking in the situation, before shaking his head in frustration. "We're getting out of here. Now." He grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him, moving much more quickly than he had before, and not bothering to stick to the walls, rather crossing the empty space of the garage to get to the other side more quickly. She understood Becker's eagerness to get out, but she could not tear her eyes away from the battling creatures as he pulled her behind him. Jess could tell the smaller one was near death as she watched the rivers of blood flow freely from its neck and the deep gashes that covered its entire body. But the animal was not done fighting yet. She remembered Abby once telling her that wild animals are often most dangerous just before the die, driven into a frenzy by pain and desperation. The smaller charged blindly at the other, forcing them back from the center of the garage towards the wall opposite Jess and into the crates Becker had warned Connor to stay away from earlier.

They were nearly halfway to the stairs when it happened. With a shriek like nothing Jess had ever heard before, the smaller creature fell at the feet of its attacker. Roaring victoriously, the larger bent down and savagely ripped into the other, blood and flesh flying as the smaller finally surrendered and died. Not pausing for even a moment, the remaining creature, though covered in blood and wounds from the fight, immediately turned from the body of its defeated foe to look directly at Becker and Jess. It let out a terrible roar that made Jess' ears ring before starting towards them, quickly picking up speed as it moved.

Becker cursed under his breath and dropped her hand before pushing her behind him and raising his shotgun.

"Right," he said, taking aim at the approaching dinosaur, "Abby is just going to have to let this one go. We are not keeping this thing as a pet." He took a second to glance back at her. "Jess, run. Get out of here now."

But Jess could not seem to move her legs. She was too terrified to run and she would not leave Becker again. Her breath caught in her throat and she raised her hands to cover her ears as Becker raised his gun.

He fired several rounds into the charging dinosaur before it changed its course, veering off to the side. The next few seconds seemed to pass in slow motion for Becker as he fired the last round in his shotgun as the Allosaurus ducked to the side, revealing the crates of explosives. The shot intended for the dinosaur instead hit the crate of explosives, detonating them.

Becker turned, throwing his arms around Jess less than a second before the powerful explosion ripped through the garage, sending them flying through the air as the building collapsed around them.


	6. Too Little, Too Late

Chapter Six- Too Little, Too Late

After pausing to secure the heavy metal grate that closed off the entrance to the garage, Matt and Abby carried Connor between them away from the building. It was against every instinct in Matt's body to leave Becker and Jess behind, but he knew without weapons or backup there was nothing he could do to help them now. He had to trust that Becker could get himself and Jess out on his own.

Matt steered them back along the rough road that led to the entrance to the construction site. Not far from the building was a small trailer that Matt guessed housed the foreman's office.

"Let's get him inside," Matt said, nodding towards the trailer. Connor was surprisingly heavy for his size.

With a bit of careful maneuvering, Abby and Matt succeeded in getting into the trailer where they laid Connor on an old couch.

"Keep an eye on him," Matt instructed Abby as he turned and walked back to the open door of the trailer to watch for Becker and Jess.

"Connor?" Abby asked, leaning over him. She brushed his hair back away from his face and called his name again. "Can you hear me?"

He groaned and turned his head toward her without opening his eyes.

"I'm fine," he mumbled as he cracked open his eyes. "We have got to find less exciting jobs."

"I'll keep that in mind," she promised, peering into his eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

He nodded, grimacing slightly as he pressed his fingers to the wound at the base of his skull. "Absolutely fine." He repeated firmly.

Abby did not believe him for a moment. In the years she had known him, she had seen Connor react to a paper cut like a mortal wound and a cold like the plague. His stoic attitude worried her as it was generally an indicator of serious injury. She would make sure the medics checked him out as soon as they arrived and decided to drop the issue until then.

"Help me sit up?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts.

She helped sit up carefully so she could inspect his injury. It was not deep and had mostly stopped bleeding, but from the slightly dazed expression on his face, she knew it had done some damage.

"I think you'll live," she told him. "Do you want to stand?"

He nodded and tried to stand, but quickly fell back to the couch as the sudden movement caused a wave of nausea to hit him. "I think I'll just sit here for a bit," Connor said, swaying slightly. "Why don't you go check on Matt?"

She nodded and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek as she stood and joined Matt at the open door of the trailer.

"Is Connor all right?" Matt asked her without taking his eyes off the front door of the building.

"He probably has a mild concussion," she answered. "But I think he'll be fine."

Matt nodded his acknowledgement and raised a hand to his earpiece. "Becker, can you hear me?"

Abby raised an eyebrow questioningly and Matt shook his head. "He's not answering."

"They should be here by now, Matt." Abby said in a low voice to avoid alerting Connor to her concern. "Something might have happened to them."

Matt shook his head. "We don't know that." He turned away from her to face the building again. "Becker, what's going on?"

Abby looked more concerned. "Still no answer?"

Matt sighed heavily and turned away from the open doorway. "No, and backup is still ten minutes away."

"Maybe one of us should go back." Connor suggested, joining them at the door and leaning a hand against the wall to steady himself.

"No," Matt answered firmly, but he looked worried as well. "It's too dangerous. Becker knows how to look out for himself. And he would never let anything happen to Jess."

They passed the next few minutes in worried silence, broken only by Matt's continued attempts to contact Becker on his earpiece and checking in with the ARC for backup. As more time passed, they each grew more concerned and Matt began to question his judgment about leaving them in the first place. It was becoming clear that something must have happened to prevent them from getting out

"That's it," Matt announced suddenly, taking a step forward. "I'm going back. Abby, you and Connor wait here for backup."

Before he could take another step, an explosion ripped through the building before them, causing the ground to shake violently as dust and glass were propelled away from the building with deadly force. The equipment around them rocked dangerously and Abby stumbled when the shockwave hit the trailer. Connor caught her arm before she fell and pulled her back against him. The three watched in shock as the office building began to crumble inward, collapsing into the ground. An eerie silence followed in the wake of the explosion as the dust began to settle.

"Oh, God," Abby gasped. "Jess…"

She started to run forward but Matt followed her and caught her wrist.

"Abby, you can't just run in there; it's dangerous. We have to do this right and wait for backup."

She wrenched her arm out of his grip and stepped backwards, bumping into Connor who had followed them away from the trailer. "We should never have left them behind." She snapped. "They could be dead now and it's your fault!"

"Abby, I promise you, we're going to find them. But we're going to do this the right way- I'm not going to risk anyone else's life."

She nodded bitterly and then turned to Connor who pulled her into a tight embrace. The look on Connor's face told Matt that he agreed with her, but that he also understood the need to wait for backup.

Matt turned away from them to face the wreckage of the building before him and took a moment to organize his thoughts.

"This is Matt," he said into his earpiece. "I need more backup and a search and rescue team sent to the anomaly site immediately. We have a serious problem."


	7. Buried

Chapter Seven- Buried

Jess woke slowly, vaguely wondering why it was so dark in her bedroom. Even if she had forgotten to turn on the lamp beside her bed before falling asleep, the light from the street lamp outside her window should have provided enough light for her to see her surroundings. She had a terrible headache, worse than anything she had experienced since her best friend's bachelorette party, but she had no memory of going out. After several confused moments, the memories of the anomaly and the explosion came rushing back to her and she jerked awake with a start. She suddenly realized that she was pinned to the ground by a heavy weight, which, combined with her panicked state, was making it difficult for her to breathe properly.

Just as she was about to give into her oncoming anxiety attack, she realized that the heavy weight on top of her was Becker. Her mind flashed back to the moments before the explosion and she remembered him throwing himself over her to protect her. She calmed slightly when she felt his warm breath on her neck, reassuring her that he was at least still alive. After a brief struggle, she managed to free her right arm from under Becker's dead weight and raised her hand to feel the back of his head, her hand coming away sticky with blood. He had sustained some kind of head injury, but it was not bleeding heavily. She desperately hoped it had simply knocked him out. He had almost certainly taken the worst of the damage when the building had collapsed, having used his body to shield her. As heavy as he was, she did not dare try to move him while he was unconscious for fear of causing him further injury.

She had no idea how much time had passed since the explosion. Though she could see nothing through the total darkness that surrounded her, she guessed they were buried under several tons of concrete and steel. She could only hope that Matt, Connor, and Abby had not been caught in the blast and that they were now working to find them.

"Becker?" she whispered hoarsely, breaking the deafening silence. She cleared her throat and spoke again. "Becker!"

She heard him mumble something unintelligible into her hair and then groan.

"Becker! Are you all right?"

"Jess?" he responded after a moment. She felt him shift his weight above her and a moment later he rolled off of her and onto his side, groaning again as he did so.

She gasped in a breath of fresh air, her barely contained panic still threatening to spill over.

"Are you alright?" she heard him ask, his voice echoing strangely in the wreckage around them. "Are you injured?"

She pressed her hand to her throbbing forehead, willing herself to remain calm. "No…" she answered shakily. "No, I think I'm all right."

"Jess?" he asked again, his voice full of concern.

"It's- it's so dark!" she whispered, painfully aware of how childish and frightened her voice sounded.

"Hang on." She heard a rustling noise and a moment later was blinded by light as Becker produced a small flashlight from his vest.

"Better?" he asked, and she nodded earnestly and shifted onto her side to face him.

"Loads." Looking up at him, she suddenly became self-conscious, realizing how close they were in the tiny space; his face was only inches from her own.

Becker, however, seemed completely oblivious to her embarrassment as he cast the beam of the flashlight around them idly, surveying their surroundings. There was little to see other than twisted metal and concrete blocks. The ground around them was littered with metal shavings and broken glass. The space they were trapped in was very small- there was just enough room for them both to lay flat, side by side. There was not even enough room above her head for her to sit up. Her breath hitched in her throat and her panic resurfaced as the reality of their situation began to sink in.

"I just can't believe this happened." She whispered, tears welling in her eyes, blurring her vision. Her breathing increased and she realized she was going to hyperventilate. "Do you think Matt, Abby, and Connor got out in time?"

"Jess, you need to stay calm. They got out," Becker tried to reassure her. "Matt knew the plan. And he'll find us."

"Becker, they have no idea where to start looking for us. How are they going to find us? We're under a building! And you're assuming they're even looking for us. They probably think we're dead. I mean, we should be dead. Do you realize how small the odds of someone surviving something like this are? What if we run out of air?"

"Jessica!"

She finally stopped babbling and forced herself to take a slow breath.

"Matt, Connor, and Abby aren't going to give up on us any more than you or I would give up on them. They'll come for us. All right?"

She nodded, and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Now, we need to focus on contacting them," Becker said calmly. "I lost my earpiece. I don't suppose you've got yours?"

She shook her head. "I gave you and Matt the only two I had with me. What about your black box?"

She heard him unclip it from his belt and a moment later pressed it into her outstretched hand. "Do you think it's still transmitting?"

She took the box from his hand to inspect more closely. It was nearly cracked in half, but most of the inner pieces seemed to be intact.

"It might be," she said finally, carefully laying it on the ground between them. "But I can't be sure."

"What about your mobile?"

She shifted awkwardly so she could remove her mobile from her back pocket and shook her head as she looked at the screen. "Still no signal."

"Of course not," he muttered. "I don't suppose you've got any bright ideas?"

"Not yet," she said, sliding her mobile back into the front pocket of her jeans. "But I'm working on it." Her hand brushed against something warm and sticky on her cardigan just above her waist. She pressed her fingers into the spot and held them up to the light to investigate. She stared at her bloody fingers in confusion for a moment, wondering where so much blood could have come from.

"Becker!" she gasped, snatching the flashlight away from him and shining the beam down his torso. His right hand was pressed tightly against his side and blood was flowing freely from between his fingers. Her hand flew towards the wound but stopped short of touching him for fear of causing him more pain.

"I've had worse," Becker quipped in a strained voice.

Jess took a deep breath to steady herself before she spoke again. "Let me see," she commanded, gently nudging his hand aside and shining the light directly onto the wound. She fought to keep her face passive as she inspected his injury. There was a deep gash in his side, probably from a piece of shrapnel in the explosion, she guessed. It was deep, deep enough that she began to worry about the possibility of internal injury. She had never considered herself to be squeamish about blood before; she had certainly seen her fair share of carnage in her line of work. Of course, it was almost never in person and she had never been the one to provide first aid- she had an army of medics to do that for her. "You're going to be fine, Becker," she said, trying and failing to keep her voice steady.

"You're a terrible liar, Jess," he said, not missing the tremor in her voice. "I know it's bad."

"Maybe so," she conceded briskly, putting on her most professional voice, "but you're still going to be fine." She began unbuttoning her cardigan and wriggled out of it. "We need to put pressure on it and stop the bleeding." She folded the cardigan and laid it across the wound but hesitated before touching him again.

"I know it'll hurt, Jess. Go ahead."

She carefully applied pressure against the wound, biting her lip as she did so. He cursed loudly, gritting his teeth in pain. "Sorry," he said a moment later, apologizing for his foul language.

She forced herself to smile to hide her fear. "You're hurt. You go ahead and curse all you like."

He gave a short laugh before wincing again.

"Are you all right?" she asked quickly, growing more worried. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Cuts and bruises," he answered shiftily, "not to mention a nasty headache."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" she demanded, forcing herself not to panic over this new development. He had already lost what seemed like a lot of blood and all she could do to help was try to stop him from losing any more.

"I didn't want you to worry."

She knew she should have been more upset with him for not telling her sooner, but to her own great surprise after a moment of silence she began to giggle uncontrollably.

"Jess?" he asked, the worried look on his face only making her laugh harder.

"Sorry," she gasped, wiping a tear of mirth away from her eyes as she regained her composure. "It's just your logic. We're trapped under a collapsed building with no way of contacting our friends while you're injured and you don't want me to worry?"

Now that she had the flashlight, she copied his earlier movements, casting the light around to investigate their situation. She tilted her head back to look behind them and was nearly blinded by the reflection of the light on the grille of his truck, which was now upside down. She realized that most of the glass around them must have come from the shattered windshield. The way the truck had landed, she could just see the interior through a tiny space between the hood and the ground.

"Found your truck," she joked, shining the light onto the crushed frame. "I think you might need a new one, though."

He nodded and closed his eyes. "Lester will be thrilled," he murmured, his voice trailing off. "Lots of paperwork…"

"I really think you need to stay awake," she said nervously. "Matt will find us soon, and I know you'd hate to miss being rescued."

He sighed and forced his eyes open again. "How long have we been down here?"

She glanced at her watch. "I'm not sure. Maybe an hour?" She pressed the heel of her hand clutching the flashlight to her throbbing head again. "I must have been unconscious longer than I thought."

"Let me see." He gently pried the flashlight out of her hand and shined the light onto her forehead. "You've got a nasty bump coming in. You'll be fine." He carefully brushed his fingers against the side of her face to tuck a stray bit of hair back behind her ear, making her shiver. "Are you cold?"

"A bit," she admitted, secretly thinking that the shiver had very little to do with the temperature.

An awkward silence fell between them as they both tried to think of something to say. Jess admonished herself for having panicked like that. She needed to stay calm if they were both going to survive. Becker was badly hurt; he did not need to worry about reassuring her as well.

"What do we do now?" Jess asked quietly, finally breaking the awful silence. It was the last thing she wanted to ask, but it was all she could think of anymore.

"Well," Becker said, covering her hand at his side with his own, "we're trapped under a collapsed building with no way out and no way of contacting anyone. Now we wait."


	8. Plans

Chapter Eight- Plans

An hour had passed since the building had exploded. Backup had arrived to secure the scene within minutes of Matt's report to the ARC that the mission had gone horribly wrong. Not long after that, the previously abandoned construction site was buzzing with activity as paramedics, fire crews, and search and rescue teams came flooding in, presumably on Lester's orders. Lester himself had come to the site after being briefed by Matt and, after a short conversation with the leader of the fire crew, had spent nearly the entire hour engrossed in a conversation on his mobile, hovering just out of earshot.

The medics had looked over Connor as soon as they arrived and had confirmed Abby's suspicion that he was suffering from a mild concussion. They had tried their best to convince him to accompany them back to the hospital to run further tests, but Connor refused to leave the site, insisting he be allowed to help with the rescue effort. Though Matt was concerned that Connor might be pushing himself too hard, he was pleased to see Connor's devotion to the team. His close work with Philip Burton had put a strain on his relationship with the other members of the team, especially Abby and himself. But here in the face of a new crisis, he was the old Connor again.

Matt had quickly located the man in charge of the search and rescue teams, a stern looking man named Peters. According to one of his men, he was a retired combat engineer who had been appointed as the head of domestic search and rescue with the Home Office several years earlier. That same man had also mentioned that his "retirement" had not been entirely voluntary, and was more the result of his attitude towards rescues. Apparently he had become jaded over the years, and though he was a gifted engineer, he was often difficult to work with.

Armed with this information, Matt introduced himself to Peters, using the vague cover story Lester had drilled into all of them. Introducing yourself as a member of the Home Office often invited a lot of questions from other government officials, but the story Lester had concocted for them was so boring, no one dared inquire about their work for fear of being answered.

"What's the situation?" he asked Peters, motioning for Abby and Connor to join him in the foreman's trailer, which had quickly been established as headquarters. Lester caught his eye and motioned that he would join them in a moment.

"The explosion was mostly directed upwards, not outwards. If the explosives had been wired into the building as they were supposed to be for the demolition tomorrow, the entire building would have collapsed in. The destruction could have been much worse."

"Then how soon can we get down there?"

"Look, you need to be realistic," Peters replied dispassionately without looking up from the schematics his assistant had handed him. "At this point, we're looking at a search and recovery approach, not search and rescue. If your people were down there when the explosion happened, the odds of them having survived are-"

"Excuse me?" Abby interrupted him, drawing Peters' full attention away from the papers in front of him. "Search and recovery?"

"He means he thinks they're probably dead and the most we can do is find their bodies to return to their families," Connor explained, walking up behind her with his laptop in tow.

"We're not just going to write them off," Matt said firmly, staring down the older man. "If they were far enough away from the blast, they could just be trapped underneath the debris. We're going to assume they're alive until we find them otherwise."

"I'm sorry, have you ever led a search and rescue before?" It was quickly becoming obvious to Matt what Peters' "attitude" problems had been.

Matt crossed his arms and leveled his gaze at him. "Yes, actually."

Before Peters could reply, Lester snapped his mobile closed as he entered the trailer, inserting himself into the conversation.

"Right, let's make this simple, shall we?" he said briskly. "Matt is in charge of the search. I'm not going to have some arrogant moron who has already dismissed the possibility of rescue looking for my people. You and your men will report directly to him. Is that clear?"

The engineer looked infuriated and opened his mouth to voice his objection but was cut off by the sound of his own mobile ringing.

"You'll want to get that," Lester said, nodding towards the mobile. "It's your boss. Strictly speaking, it's your boss's boss. He'll confirm what I just told you."

Peters stared blankly at Lester for a moment before turning away from the group to quietly answer his mobile. Connor and Abby stood staring speechlessly at Lester for a moment before Abby threw herself at him, pulling him into a crushing hug.

"Thank you, Lester!"

"I never knew you cared so much, Lester," Matt said dryly, taking Peters' place behind the desk.

"I don't," Lester insisted tersely, carefully extricating himself from Abby's tight embrace. "You have no idea how much paperwork is involved in replacing you people. Now," Lester continued, straightening his tie and turning to Matt, "how exactly do you expect to find them?"

Matt nodded to Connor, who stepped forward and help up his laptop. "Becker had a black box with him. I saw Jess give him one."

"According to your story, she also gave him an earpiece," Lester pointed out, "which he isn't answering."

"He could have lost his earpiece in the explosion or he's hurt and can't answer," Connor argued. "He could still have his black box on him. It's still transmitting from somewhere underneath the building. It could lead us right to him. It's worth a try."

"And what about Jess?" Lester asked, his voice softening. It was a well-known fact that the frosty administrator had a soft spot in his heart for the quirky field coordinator. "How are you going to find her?"

"There's no way to track her cell phone," Connor explained gently. "The signal can't get through all the debris. But I have a feeling if we find Action Man, we'll find Jess."

Lester nodded curtly before turning back to Matt. "Matt, anything you need..."

"Did you call Philip?" Connor asked suddenly, ignoring the dangerous look Abby gave him when he mentioned Burton's name. "I'm sure if he knew he would want to help with-"

"Philip Burton," Lester interrupted him, barely masking the contempt that filled his voice, "is not currently taking my calls. Apparently he has more important issues to deal with at the moment."

Abby glared triumphantly at Connor as he tried to process that piece of information. He cleared his throat awkwardly before asking, "What?"

"His assistant did mention that Philip asks that if you intend to work on your night off, he could use your help at Prospero," Lester continued, his gaze fixed on some invisible point behind Connor's head. "Something about not wasting your time on a futile rescue attempt."

It was a tense moment as they all turned to face Connor and waited for his response.

"Absolutely not," he said firmly, looking around at the small group. He seemed hurt that it was even a question of whether or not he would choose stay to help. "No, I'm not leaving until we find them. Philip will just have to get over it."

Abby smiled broadly and kissed him on his cheek as Matt nodded his approval.

"Good man, Connor."

The group shifted their attention back to Peters who was finishing his call.

"Yes, sir," he said into the mobile, nodding as he spoke. "Absolutely. I understand." He hung up and turned back to face the group. "Looks like you're in charge," he addressed Matt with a scowl on his face.

Matt nodded. "Good. Now what do you need?"

"My team should have everything we need to get started. Any equipment we don't have with us, we should be able to borrow from the construction site."

"Excellent," Lester said, clapping his hands together to show the matter was settled. "Whatever you need, say the word and it's yours. I don't care if it's the bloody crown jewels. You find my people."

"And Peters," Matt said, closing the distance between them, "this is still a search and rescue. If I hear the phrase "search and recovery" come out of your mouth again, you'll be needing some recovery time of your own. Do you understand?"

He nodded curtly and stalked out of the trailer, barking orders to men as he went.

Lester glanced at his watch. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have a conference call with the minister to report on the situation. I suggest you all get to work."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Though Becker was doing his best to keep a brave face for Jess, he knew all too well the desperation of their situation. He did not want her to panic again, but he knew his injury was bad. He had seen far too many injuries like his in his time as a soldier. Keeping pressure on the wound to prevent further blood loss was a stop-gap measure at best; he was running out of time. Already he was growing lightheaded and it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to stay awake. On top of the obvious wound in his side, he had broken several ribs and his head was throbbing violently. He realized that he would not likely survive long enough to be rescued. His only regret in that would be that Jess would be left to wait for rescue alone if he did not hang on until then. He had long since resigned himself to his fate to die in the field.

"Could we please talk about something else, Jess?" he asked patiently, interrupting her nervous rant. She had been talking non-stop for nearly five minutes about various episodes of E.R. she had seen in which people has survived much worse situations than their own.

"Right, of course," she said apologetically, looking flustered. "Um… have you seen any good movies recently?"

He could not prevent himself from chuckling at her words, immediately regretting having done so when pain shot across his chest at the movement, jarring his broken ribs. "That's your go-to topic of conversation?" he choked out, trying to mask his pain.

Unfortunately, she had seen the expression on his face. "Are you okay? Are you sure you aren't injured anywhere else?"

Becker toyed briefly with the idea of continuing to lie to her about his condition, but dismissed it almost immediately, knowing he was caught.

"I think I cracked a few ribs," he admitted, somewhat sheepishly. "Maybe broken, I'm not sure."

"Becker!" she scolded him. "Why didn't you say something?"

"It's not like you can do anything for cracked ribs, Jess."

He saw tears begin to well in her eyes again. "I just wish there was something I could give you for the pain."

"It's all right. It barely hurts." He lied, a vain attempt to reassure her. His voice trailed off at the end of the sentence as his eyes began to droop.

"Come on, Becker, stay awake," she begged. "Tell me something."

"What would you like to know?" He asked with a sigh, forcing his eyes open again. He would stay awake for her for as long as he could- not for his own well-being, but because he did not want to leave her alone.

"I don't know," she said, and he could see her mind turning, searching for an appropriate topic. "Tell me about how you ended up in the military."

"That's a very boring story, really. Military boarding schools for most of my life and then the military. I always wanted to be a soldier and it's what was expected of me. I never even thought about doing anything else. Of course, I never expected that fighting dinosaurs would be a part of that."

"What about your family? Don't they wonder what you're doing now?"

Becker shook his head. "Both my parents died a few years ago. I was an only child."

"I'm so sorry, Becker. I didn't know."

"It's all right. We hadn't been close for a very long time." She nodded silently, and he decided to cut her off before she could continue with her interrogation, needing a moment to rest before speaking again. "All right, you tell me something now. How did a nice girl like you end up at the ARC? You were the top of your class in everything, graduated early with recommendations from everyone you ever worked with; you could have had any job in the world."

"How did you know all that?" Jess asked suspiciously. "I never told anyone about that."

Becker smiled faintly at his own blunder, realizing he had tipped his hand. "You're not the only one with access to the personnel files, Jess," he answered mysteriously.

"Been reading up on me, have you?" she teased.

"You're a fascinating girl. It made for an interesting read," he told her honestly and she blushed furiously and ducked her head to avoid his gaze. "Though it failed to mention your fear of the dark."

She rolled her eyes at his cheeky remark. "No one likes the dark, Becker." She shifted again, carefully keeping pressure on his side. "And besides, it could be worse. It's lucky I'm not claustrophobic," she said, pointedly looking around at their surroundings.

He chuckled at her joke and she beamed at him, truly smiling for the first time since they had woken up. He looked at her expectantly, wanting her to answer his earlier question.

"But how I came to the ARC... Well, I've never really… fit in anywhere before. I finished school when I was so young… I mean, I had friends, of course," she insisted quickly, "but no one close. Being a child prodigy doesn't make you terribly popular. My family was always very supportive of me, but it was still difficult sometimes. So when I got offered a job working on a top-secret government project… Well, it's not as though I had a social life to lose. And I wanted a new challenge. You can't get much more challenging than fighting dinosaurs."

"What about your family? Friends outside of the ARC?"

"My family lives just outside of London, so I get to see them a lot. They know I'm doing super secret work for the government, so they don't ask many questions. Before Abby and Connor moved in with me, I really didn't have many friends here."

"No husbands, boyfriends, or girlfriends waiting at home for you?"

She blushed again as he teased her with her own words.

"No, no husbands, boyfriends, or girlfriends to speak of. I don't really get out much, so there's not much time to meet someone."

"What about someone from the ARC? You and Matt seem to get along well." He asked, doing his best to feign indifference on the matter.

She gave him a strange look. "I realize you're injured, but me and Matt? Honestly?"

He shrugged one shoulder noncommittally, secretly glad to hear that she was not romantically interested in anyone in particular at the moment. Even though he wanted her to be happy, he had no desire to watch her begin a relationship with someone else.

"Besides," she continued, still clearly amused at his suggestion, "Matt's in love with Emily."

"Really?" Becker asked, truly surprised. He knew Matt and Emily were close, but he had seen no reason to suspect a romantic relationship between them. "And what makes you think that?"

Jess rolled her eyes. "How can you not think that? Trust me, he's crazy about her."

"I'll take your word for it. Relationships were never my strong point."

"Nor mine," she said quietly, avoiding his gaze.

So long as they were talking, she seemed to be calmer. Unfortunately, making small talk was not one of Becker's strengths under normal circumstances- a weakness that was not improved by his current condition. He could feel himself getting weaker by the minute and knew that no matter how hard he might try, he would not be able to remain conscious for much longer. Conversation was much easier when Jess was asking the questions.

"Anything else you'd like to know, Jess?"


	9. Confessions

Chapter Nine- Confessions

Jess had never heard Becker open up like this about his personal life. She had always known him to be an extremely private person, taciturn to the point of standoffish. In fact, prior to this night, the longest conversation she could remember having with him had been the day Matt had announced he was replacing the ARC's conventional weapons with the EMDs, which had resulted in Becker ranting to Jess for nearly an hour about the necessity of "real guns" in the field. It usually took her weeks of coercion, wheedling, and prying to get any personal information from him. Her momentary surprise at his willingness to talk was quickly replaced with concern when she realized the implication of his statement. An invitation to ask him questions was almost certainly a sign of how hopeless he considered his situation.

"All right," she began slowly, "there is something I've been wanting to ask you."

He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue.

She took a deep breath and asked "Why did you come back? To the ARC, I mean," she clarified quickly. "In your file… Well, I know you didn't want to when they first asked."

"No, I didn't."

"So why did you change your mind? What made you decide to come back?"

"After… After Connor, Abby, and Danny went missing… After Sarah died, I wanted to quit. I wanted to walk away from everything and pretend like it never happened, but… I've never had a life outside the military. I had nowhere else to go. And when I was told they were going to continue the project…" His voice trailed off.

Jess nodded, trying for a moment to imagine what it might have been like to work at the ARC during that time. In the past year, they had certainly known hard times and lost good people, but she could not imagine losing four members of the team so close together, especially so soon after the loss of the man who had started everything, Nick Cutter. But it was more than that for Becker. He had not just lost coworkers: he had lost friends. Some of the files from the old days at the ARC included personal pictures of the team when they were off-duty. It was obvious they had been a close-knit group. To be the only person left… She felt her eyes begin to fill with tears as she thought about how hard that had been for Becker.

"I'm so sorry."

Becker looked confused as he searched her face for an explanation. "Sorry for what?"

"For everything that happened. I know I've said it before, but… I'm so sorry about everything that happened."

He said nothing, but nodded his understanding.

"And I'm sorry for earlier," she continued, deciding to get all her apologizing done in one go. "You were angry I came to the site with Connor and Abby. If I had left when you told me to, maybe none of this would have happened. You wouldn't have gotten hurt and we wouldn't be here now."

He sighed heavily before speaking. "Jess, listen to me: none of this is your fault. I wasn't angry with you. I just wanted you to leave before you got hurt. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'm sorry I did." He reached up to awkwardly cover her hand with his.

She nodded and smiled faintly at his apology, wiping her eyes with her free hand. He was becoming increasingly pale and was beginning to slur his words. It was obvious he was growing weaker, but she could think of nothing she could do other than to keep him awake for as long as possible. Hopefully until help arrived.

"I know; you were just trying to do your job." It was his job, she reminded herself firmly, to worry about her. Anything else was nothing more than her lovesick imagination getting the best of her.

"You don't belong in the field," he said softly after a moment of silence, his voice completely devoid of emotion. "You aren't trained for it."

She could not believe they were having this conversation, here and now. But he was still awake and that was the important thing. And, a selfish voice in her head added, you'll probably never get him to talk like this ever again. "Maybe not, but I can do more than sit behind a computer and type, you know. I helped you at Ethan's."

"And look where that got you," Becker said a little louder, pausing as he coughed violently, pulling his hand away from hers to cover his mouth. Flecks of blood appeared on his hand as he did, which he immediately wiped onto his vest, the look on his face imploring her not to mention it. "Why don't you ever just listen to me? If you had left when I told you, you wouldn't be here now."

"Yes, well, you wouldn't be here at all if I had left you back there with the bomb in Ethan's flat like you ordered me to," she countered, flinching even as she spoke, immediately regretting her words.

The sentence hung awkwardly in the air between them. They had both been so careful to avoid the subject since the incident, and now that it was in the open with nothing else to distract them, neither knew what to say.

"It's not-" He paused for a moment. "It's not that I think you aren't capable. You're brilliant, you really are. But out in the field, on the front lines facing down bombs and anomalies… It's not your place, Jess. This is the second time you've ended up out in the field and both times have ended with you nearly being killed."

"That's hardly my fault," she insisted, shifting restlessly on the cold concrete floor. "And I'm not saying I even want to be in the field. But I want you to stop treating me like… like some silly schoolgirl always in need of saving."

"That's not what anyone thinks of you. I just want to protect you. You're part of the team. It's my job to worry about you."

They fell silent for a moment as Jess contemplated his last statement. Somehow he seemed to know what she was thinking because after a moment he added:

"I try not to get too close to anyone on the team. It just makes things more complicated and if something happened to them… It's just difficult."

"How is that working out for you?" she asked. Her tone was light and teasing, but there was sincerity behind her question.

He did not answer, but the look on his face said enough.

"This job is hard on everyone," she continued. "Do you have any idea what it's like for me, trapped in the Hub, watching you lot get chased around by monsters and lunatics like Ethan?"

She felt a little silly and insensitive lecturing him while he was trapped with her and injured, but she knew she was unlikely to get another chance to tell him how she felt.

"You're the best, Becker. Everyone respects and admires you. You're kind and strong and brave and…" She paused, searching for more adjectives to describe him.

"There's a difference between brave and foolish," he said, his voice now barely above a whisper.

"Don't say that," she admonished him. "You're practically a superhero! You're wonderful and you're the only person I know who doesn't think so too. But you act like your life doesn't mean anything. Why are you so bent on punishing yourself?"

"Maybe I deserve it. No matter how you try to justify it or explain it, they are dead because of me. It was my job to keep them safe, and now they're dead. It doesn't get much simpler than that."

"No one blames you for anything that happened except you."

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but nearly every mission ends in you taking some ridiculous risk in order to protect the team."

"It's my job- my responsibility- to keep them safe. Of course I take risks, just like everyone else does in this job."

"No, Becker," she argued, "not like everyone else. You treat every anomaly like it's your own personal suicide mission. Don't you know that we all care about your safety too? That we want you to come back alive just as much as the others?"

"Jess, don't-" he tried to interrupt her, but she continued as though she had not heard him.

"I care about you."

There it was. He knew she cared about him. And he cared about her. And somehow, he knew if he would just admit those facts out loud, there was a chance he could be happy. But how long could that happiness really last? Though it was not something he ever discussed with anyone, he had seen a lot of injuries in his time serving overseas. He had no illusions about his chances of surviving.

"Don't you care about me?" she asked, her voice cracking as she spoke. "We flirt, you bring me chocolate, and then the thing at Ethan's happens and you shut me out. I don't understand."

She looked so sad. He could not stand to be the one causing her pain, and so he took a deep breath and decided to answer her question honestly.

"Jess, you are important to me. I care about you. More than as a coworker and more than as Head of Security. More than as a friend."

She was temporarily rendered speechless. She could not believe she had admitted her feelings for him out loud. His response was the last thing she had expected him to say and she was not sure how to respond. She had waited so long for him to notice her, and apparently he had. After a moment's hesitation she opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off before she could begin.

"You're brilliant and funny and beautiful, and I wish…"

"Becker, maybe you should rest for a while." As much as she wanted him to finish his sentence, his voice had barely risen above a whisper since the beginning of the conversation.

"Jess, let me… Let me finish. It was always going to end this way. The anomalies destroy everyone who works with them long enough. It was always just a matter of time before my luck ran out. I couldn't ask you to go through the same pain I went though. I'm not worth it. You deserve to be happy."

Jess knew this was one argument she would never be able to win, but she suddenly found she could not stop once she had started. She had spent so much time holding back, not allowing herself to say anything, and it seemed now was her only chance to get everything off her chest. In for a penny, in for a pound, as her grandmother would have said.

"Shouldn't I get to decide that for myself?" she challenged him gently. "Becker?" He had not opened his eyes again since he had last spoken and had shown no indication that he had heard her. "Becker!"


	10. Ascent

Chapter 10- Ascent

Nearly two hours had passed since Becker had lost consciousness. At first, Jess had panicked; her mind immediately jumping to the worst conclusion, but she had quickly found his pulse. Reassuring herself that he was merely unconscious, she had calmed herself and forced herself to draw in a deep breath. She refused he allow herself to think about what she would do if he died before help arrived. Becker could survive anything, she reminded herself. He was simply not allowed to die. Lester wouldn't stand for it, she thought, smiling as she imagined Lester complaining about the paperwork involved in replacing members of the team.

Jess kept two fingers pressed against Becker's throat to feel his pulse, a steady reminder that he was still alive. With no one to talk to, she realized just how alone they really were. She tried to avoid checking the time every few minutes, but there was little else to distract her. It had been almost six hours since the explosion. Time seemed to be passing very slowly and very quickly at the same time. She began humming quietly to keep the silence from overwhelming her. She eventually grew tired of that and began singing quietly any random song that popped into her head. At some point she began talking to Becker in between songs, reminding him that help was on the way, telling him random stories about her childhood and her life outside the ARC, and apologizing for her voice and song selection.

For almost an hour, she had been puzzled by a low, mechanical hum that was steadily growing louder. She suddenly realized that it had to be rescue workers digging through the rubble to find them and hoped they would arrive soon. From the way Becker had been talking, he had believed he was going to die. Of course, looking at him now, that did seem like a frighteningly real possibility. She put her hand to his cheek, finding his skin cool and clammy. He had lost a lot of blood, despite her best efforts to keep pressure on his wound, and his body was going into shock.

The machinery grew louder and louder, eventually growing nearly deafening, kicking up dust and causing gravel and bits of rubble to fall around them.

"Hey!" she yelled hoarsely. "Hello?"

The metal above them began to creak in protest and threatened to buckle as the machinery moved the rubble and upset the fragile balance that had saved them in the first place.

Knowing that the strain was too much and that the rubble would collapse on them if she did not attract the attention of the rescue workers, she yelled again, but realized there was no chance of them hearing her over the mechanical din. She looked around desperately for inspiration, her heart sinking into her chest when she realized what she had to do.

"I'll be right back," she promised Becker's still form.

She picked up the small torch from where it had been lying between them and rolled over to inspect the wreckage of Becker's overturned truck. It was going to be a tight squeeze- a very tight squeeze, she corrected herself on further observation- but there was no other way. She placed the torch in between her teeth, pushed her body up as far as she could in the small space, and pulled herself under the hood of the truck. She took a moment to pray that the machinery would not cause the truck to lose its precarious balance and crush her underneath it. Not for the first time, she mentally thanked Connor for his blunder with the laundry as the thick material of her jeans helped protect her knees from the broken glass and sharp bits of metal that covered the rough ground. Unfortunately, she had nothing to protect her hands and she did not have time to stop and fashion something for them. She gritted her teeth together as the palms of her hands were sliced open by the glass, smaller pieces embedding themselves deep in her skin. Finally, she had pulled herself far enough under the truck that she could reach the steering column and wheel through the shattered windscreen. Covering one ear with her free hand, she paused to glance back at Becker.

"Sorry about this," she apologized aloud to Becker, thinking to herself that perhaps it was best he was unconscious for what she was about to do and pressed down on the center of the wheel, sounding the horn.

Matt stared down at the machinery digging in the wreckage of the building. They had been at it for hours with no breaks. They were getting close, according to Connor; the signal from the black box was getting stronger. To keep themselves busy while Matt coordinated the rescue efforts, Abby and Connor had joined some of the workers who were physically moving the smaller pieces of debris away from the wreckage of the building to make room for the larger equipment. It was hard work, but he suspected it made them feel useful and less helpless. Lester had stuck around for the first few hours before disappearing to take care of what he had described as "political idiocy" and left them to continue their work.

The machinery was loud and he was sure his ears would be ringing for days, but he did not care. He was waiting for some sign that they were getting close. Over the din of the equipment, he heard another noise, one that was completely out of place. He signaled the man operating the forklift, motioning for him to cut back the engines. The man quickly complied and the noise of the engines lessened considerably as he shifted into a lower gear.

Listening intently, Matt heard the noise again, as did many of the other workers who froze in place as they listened.

"Shut it off!" he ordered. "Shut it all off!"

She heard the machinery slack off, growing quieter and she knew they had heard her. She pressed the horn a few more times for good measure before backing out slowly to pull herself back over the broken glass and return to Becker's side. A moment later the sounds of the machines stopped completely and she sighed with relief as dust stopped falling through the cracks of the rubble.

"Hello?" she called into the silence, her voice cracking. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"

"Jess, Becker, is that you?" she heard someone call.

"Matt!" she cried, recognizing his familiar accent. "Yes, it's me! It's Jess!"

"Is Becker with you? Are you all right?"

"I'm okay, but Becker's hurt. Please hurry- he's lost a lot of blood."

"It's okay, just stay calm. We'll have you out soon, I promise. Just hang in there."

"Don't use the heavy machines!" she called. "The space might collapse."

"Give us a few minutes, Jess, we'll get you out."

She heard him shout a series of orders, presumably to the other rescue workers, followed by the sounds of shovels scraping the wreckage above her.

"You see?" she said to Becker. "We're going to get out of here. You'll be back to chasing dinosaurs before you know it. Just hang on for a few more minutes."

It was twenty more minutes before the rescue team finally broke through, pulling back the steel beams and concrete slabs to reveal the night sky above them. Seconds after the space was cleared, someone climbed down into the space beside her, shouting for the medics to follow.

"Matt!" she shrieked, throwing her arms around him as soon as he reached her. "I am so glad to see you!"

"Careful," he cautioned her. "I've got you, Jess," he said as his strong arms lifted her from the wreckage.

"Becker's hurt; he needs help," Jess said in a panicked voice, trying to turn in Matt's arms to see him.

"Relax, Jess, the medics will get him out and to the hospital. You need to go too," he said, nodding toward her shaking hands and he quickly ascended the pile of rubble, aided by the other workers as he climbed. "What happened?"

"Oh," she said, looking down at her hands, which were shaking and oozing blood. "I cut them," she explained vaguely, "getting to the truck."

They passed a small group of EMTs climbing down into the wreckage as Matt carried her out and she tried once again to turn to watch them.

"That was brilliant," Matt said, setting her down on the back bumper of one of the ambulances waiting at the edge of the rubble, "using the car horn like that."

She shrugged her shoulders, shivering violently. "It was nothing. Becker was-" Her voice caught in her throat and she fell silent.

A medic appeared at her side a moment later, a small, no-nonsense woman, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders and shooing Matt away. Matt winked at Jess and then returned to the wreckage to supervise the medics bringing out Becker. After quickly looking Jess over for any other obvious injuries, the EMT lightly bandaged her hands, telling her that a proper bandaging would have to wait until they got to the hospital. She took her time bandaging her hands, frequently scolding Jess and telling her to remain still, but Jess could not stop herself from trying to look around the woman to see what was happening with Becker. After an eternity, the woman finished and allowed her to stand.

"Don't wander off," the woman told her sternly. "I'm going to help them bring up the other victim and then we'll be leaving for the hospital."

Jess nodded her understanding and the medic hurried away. Jess followed as far as she dared, hovering nervously and watching as the EMTs carefully strapped Becker to a stretcher and carried him out of the wreckage.

"He'll be fine," a stiff voice next to her said, making her jump.

"Lester!" she exclaimed, pulling the blanket more tightly around herself. "What are you doing here?"

"My Head of Security and Field Coordinator end up trapped underneath a collapsed building while trying to capture two man-eating dinosaurs? The Minister's office was having a field day. Someone had to come out here and calm the politicians."

She nodded absently, barely hearing or acknowledging his words as she watched the EMTs carry the stretcher out of the wreckage and carefully load him into the back of the second ambulance parked a few feet away from the one waiting for her.

"How is he?" she asked the closest EMT as he secured the doors. "Will he be okay?"

"He's lost a lot of blood," the older man explained kindly, "and he won't really know the extent of his injuries until we get him to the hospital."

She nodded her understanding, wringing her bandaged hands nervously. "Please take care of him, he's-"

"We'll do our best, miss," he interrupted her, gesturing for the medic from the other ambulance to take her. "We've got to go now."

"I'm coming with you!" Matt called, jogging over and brushing the dirt from his hands.

"You can ride up front with me. Let's go."

Matt nodded to Lester before climbing into the ambulance which immediately pulled away from the scene, slowly navigating its way over the bumps and debris of the construction site.

"Jess!" Connor and Abby exclaimed in unison, running over to her side.

"We were helping clear the rubble so the ambulances could get out of here," Connor panted,

"He'll be fine, Jess, don't worry," Abby said, putting her arm around her shoulders as they watched the red taillights of the vehicle disappear into the distance.

"If you want to talk to her, you'll have to meet us at the hospital," the female medic said firmly, returning to the ambulance and pushing Jess inside, preparing to slam the door shut. "We've got to head out."

Jess cast a frightened glance at Lester, silently begging him not to make her go alone.

"Oh, let them ride with you," he said to the medic. "They won't be any trouble."

"I can't do that, sir," she said, not bothering to look at him. "Family only."

"But-" Jess interjected, somewhat pitifully.

"They are family." Lester said firmly, stepping in front of her and raising his eyebrow, daring her to question him.

She rolled her eyes but held the door open. "Get in if you're coming," she barked to Abby and Connor who quickly scrambled into the back of the ambulance with her.

"Thank you!" Jess called over Connor's shoulder, but Lester waved her off impatiently.

"I'll see you there. I've got to call the minister and let him know what's going on." He said before disappearing off towards the car waiting for him.

Before Jess could say anything else, the medic had closed the door. A moment later the engine roared to life and the vehicle slowly pulled away, leaving the construction site behind. As she watched the rubble and remaining buildings disappear, it occurred to Jess for the first time that she had really escaped. She had survived. Abby and Connor put their arms around her shoulders as she began to cry.


	11. Waiting

Chapter Eleven- Waiting

It had been hours since Jess had arrived at the hospital. As soon as the ambulance had pulled up to the doors of the emergency room she had been whisked away from Connor and Abby to have her hands properly cleaned and bandaged. They had wanted to stay with her, but the nurses had been very insistent that they wait in the lobby. Jess had assured them that she would be all right and asked them to find Matt and Lester and find out what was happening with Becker, promising to join them as soon as she was done. The nurse had done her best not to hurt Jess, but she quickly decided that there was probably no good way to remove pieces of glass from someone's hands. After that, a doctor had come in and had examined her for other injures. After a never-ending series of questions about her medical history and specific details about what had happened in the explosion, she was finally released from the room.

She quickly located the nearest nurses' station and asked about Becker. She had expected them to refuse to tell her anything because she was not family, but to her surprise they gave her a detailed account of what was happening and where to find her friends. Seeing the shocked look on her face, the nurse explained that she had been ordered by a "short, angry little government man" to tell her everything and to give her something. She produced a small duffel bag from behind the desk and then gave her directions to a room where she could change clothes and shower if she liked. Jess thanked the woman profusely before taking the bag and following her directions to the small room.

Opening the bag, she found a fresh set of clothes from her locker at the ARC, soap, shampoo, a hairbrush, and even her makeup bag. Mystified as to how Lester would have known to pack all that for her, she carried the bag into the bathroom. After several moments of pondering how to shower with her hands wrapped in bandages (eventually she gave up and returned to the nurses' station to ask for two plastic bags to wrap around her hands), she jumped into the shower, forgoing shampooing her hair and focusing on washing off the dirt, grime, and blood that covered her. After brushing out her hair, pulling on the clean clothes, and dabbing on a touch of makeup to cover her pale face, she was ready to face reality again.

She returned to the nurses' station to find Matt waiting for her.

"The nurse called me to let me know you were finished," he explained before she could ask. "We're in a waiting room upstairs."

"Of course," she said, forcing her face into what she hoped was a convincing smile.

"You should go home for a little while. I know you must be exhausted," Matt said, looking concerned. "You've certainly been through enough tonight."

Jess glanced at the clock on the wall and noted with surprise that it was almost four in the morning.

"No," she said firmly, "I'm not leaving until I know he's all right."

"That's what I thought," he said, taking the bag from her and leading her toward a bank of elevators. "I just wanted to say it out loud."

A short elevator ride and two hallways later, they arrived at the waiting room near the operating rooms. It was a small room, which only looked smaller because of the large number of people crammed into it. Lester was leaning against the wall, pointedly ignoring the sign beside him that read "No Mobile Phones Please" as he barked instructions into his mobile, most likely to an unfortunate tech at the ARC. Abby and Connor were seated next to each other in a pair of uncomfortable looking chairs, Connor's head resting on Abby's shoulder as he quietly dozed while she flipped idly through a magazine. Across the room, Jess was a little surprised to see Emily, who was inspecting an ugly painting hanging on the wall. There were other people in the room, either pacing or sitting quietly, whom Jess did not know and she assumed they must be waiting for their own loved ones to come out of surgery.

"Jess!" Abby exclaimed loudly, jumping out of her seat and allowing Connor to fall over unceremoniously. "You're looking better."

"Thanks, Abby," she said as Abby led her over to the vacant chair next to hers.

"Glad you're back, Jess," Connor said, sitting up and stretching his arms over his head. "Lester's no fun to wait with."

A moment later Lester ended his conversation and Jess was suddenly aware that the attention of the whole group was now focused on her. The silence of the room made her nervous and she turned to Connor, asking the first question she could think of.

"How's your head?" she asked, settling back in the uncomfortable chair.

Connor smiled ruefully and reached back to press his fingers against the loose bandages.

"Hurts like hell, but only when my eyes are open or I move."

"Maybe you should get a doctor to look at it while we're here," Jess suggested, looking concerned.

He shrugged. "There's not much more they can do. Some aspirin and some sleep and I'll be fine."

The room fell silent once again. Jess could sense that they were all itching to ask about what had happened but were forcing themselves to wait for her to bring it up. They deserved to hear the whole story, she decided, but she really wasn't up for telling it at that moment. Not until she knew Becker would be all right.

"Who brought my things here?" Jess asked, trying again to engage someone in conversation to distract her from her own musings.

"I did," Emily said, turning away from the horrible painting to face her. "Lester called me at the ARC on his way here and asked me to get together some clothes and things for you from your locker. Speaking of which, you will need to secure a new locking mechanism."

That seemed to break the spell that had fallen over the group as everyone turned to face her, Matt regarding her with a mixture of surprise and bemusement.

"I'm sorry?" Jess asked.

"There was no time for me to find the combination to open it properly. So I broke in," Emily explained calmly, taking a seat and smoothing out her skirt demurely, oblivious to the group's reaction to her story.

"Well, thank you, Emily. I really appreciate it."

"Not at all."

The tension in the room seemed to ease slightly and Jess began to cast around her mind once again for a new topic of conversation to keep them distracted. Luckily, she was saved from this by the sudden entrance of a doctor in a white lab coat. The entire room instantly fell silent as they turned to face the doctor, waiting for him to speak.

"Is there a James Lester here? I have an update for you on Captain Becker."

"Yes, that's me," Lester said, stepping forward.

"Who lists their employer as their emergency contact?" Connor whispered loudly to Abby, but the whole group heard.

"He must think very highly of Lester," Emily stated simply.

"Or he doesn't have any friends," Connor muttered in return, but Emily ignored him.

"I'm Doctor Thompson, I performed the surgery on your colleague. Perhaps we should speak in the hall, for privacy," the doctor said, nodding toward the group.

"Anything you tell me, I'm just going to turn around and tell them, so you may as well tell them yourself," Lester said. "How is he?"

"Captain Becker suffered from a major loss of blood. We took him into surgery to repair the damage. He had suffered some fairly severe wounds: broken ribs, a concussion, and, most significantly, the shrapnel he took to his side. The blood loss in particular was-"

"You can skip the narrative, please, Doctor, we know how he was when he came here," Lester interrupted him. "We're much more interested in how he's doing now."

The doctor looked slightly put out at being spoken to in such a manner, but shrugged it off and continued. "Of course. He's out of surgery now and in recovery. We'll have to wait for him to wake up before we know for sure, but he should be fine."

"Can we see him now?" Jess asked quickly.

The doctor nodded. "Of course. It will probably be at least several hours before he wakes up, but you're welcome to sit with him if you like."

"Thank you, Dr. Thompson," Matt said gratefully, shaking his hand.

"I will ask that you visit him in groups of three at a time- hospital visiting policy, I hope you understand."

Matt nodded, "Of course."

The doctor gestured over his shoulder to a waiting nurse. "Ellen will show you to the room."

The group followed her up to Becker's room, growing somewhat impatient with her slow pace. There was an uncomfortable moment standing outside the room as they silently pondered the question of how to decide who could visit first, and then they all began to speak at once.

"Obviously, I should-" Lester began.

"Jess should probably-" Abby said, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"I want to be there when-" Matt interjected.

They all broke off awkwardly as swiftly as they had started and the silence returned.

"Oh, for heaven's sakes," Emily said impatiently. "I think we'll all agree Jess can stay with Becker for as long as she likes. We can draw lots for who gets their turn in the other two chairs. She shouldn't have to wait while we squabble out here like schoolchildren."

Matt looked at her gratefully. "Good idea. Jess, you can go on in. Two of us will join you in a few minutes."

She nodded absently, suddenly feeling uncertain and nervous about seeing Becker alone. She paused for a moment to collect herself before entering the room. She was immediately struck by the drastic change in Becker's appearance since she had last seen him in the ambulance. He had been cleaned up, no longer covered in dust and dried blood as she had been. His wounds were bandaged and stitched; he was hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor that beeped steadily in the silence of the room. He looked so much better compared to how he had looked earlier, an observation that frightened her when she realized how close he had come to dying only a few hours earlier. She sat in the chair closest to the bed and wondered what she was supposed to do. If she had thought the silence in the waiting room had been uncomfortable, it was worse in this room. The machines beeped softly in time with his breathing and every noise she made seemed louder than usual, as though she were intruding. Somehow, waiting for him to wake up in the hospital- in this room- was even worse than waiting to be rescued had been.

"We've got the first shift," Matt announced, startling her as he entered the room with Lester.

"You won the draw?" she asked, trying to cover her surprise.

Lester sniffed imperiously. "Certainly not. Rank has its privileges, after all."

She nodded. "Of course."

The three sat awkwardly, all staring at Becker. Every once in a while, one of them would speak, trying to engage in conversation, but they were so tired and the room was so quiet none of them felt like talking for long.

Finally, nearly an hour later, the end of the first shift arrived and Matt and Lester stood and prepared to leave.

"Can I get you anything before I head back to the ARC?" Lester asked. "Tea, perhaps?"

"I've never seen you get tea for anyone. I didn't know you knew how to make tea," she said, teasing him.

"Don't get used to it," he said, making a face at her.

"I'm fine, really. Thank you, Lester. For everything."

Lester nodded and cleared his throat awkwardly. "When he wakes up, tell Becker I expect him back at work as soon as his doctor clears him for duty- and not a nanosecond earlier."

"I will. Thank you, Lester."

He patted her shoulder awkwardly. "I'm glad you're safe, Jess." He turned and walked to the door. "And that goes for you too, you know. I don't need to see you at the ARC for at least a week."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Lester."

"I'll be nearby if you need me," Matt said, as he turned to follow Lester out the door. "It's Connor and Abby's turn next."

Alone again, her mind immediately turned back to the questions that were plaguing her mind. She had confessed that she cared about Becker. To his face. And he had told her that he cared about her. Not only that, he cared about her as more than a friend and more than his job required him to. But what did that mean? She began to wonder if her imagination was running away with her; if her girlish crush was preventing her from understanding his true meaning, preferring to invent some wild fantasy in which Becker had romantic feelings for her as well. But what was she supposed to do now? The last thing she wanted to do was pretend like it never happened, though that did seem to be the most likely thing for Becker to do.

"Is everything all right, Jess?" Abby asked as she entered the room, interrupting her thoughts.

Jess turned and flashed her a small smile.

"I'm fine, really. Just… worried about Becker."

"You heard the doctors; he'll be fine. It'll just take some time for him to wake up." She held up a Styrofoam cup. "I brought you some tea."

Jess nodded, awkwardly taking the tea from Abby, trying to find a comfortable way to hold the warm mug in her heavily bandaged hands. "I know. But still."

"Still." Abby said, nodding in agreement. She was quiet for a moment as she observed Jess' face as she gazed at Becker. "Jess," she began slowly, "did something happen down there? Between you and Becker?"

"We… talked. Maybe something. I don't really know."

Abby raised her eyebrows. "Maybe?"

"I don't know what to think right now."

Abby just nodded her understanding and sipped her tea thoughtfully. Jess was thankful that Abby was the kind of friend who knew when to pry and when to let things be.

"Sorry I'm late," Connor said, walking into the room. "Lester wanted to ask me about a temporary replacement for you while you're off work. I told him I'd take care of the ADD until you're back. I know how you feel about people touching your computers."

Jess nodded and smiled. "Thanks, Connor."

"So, tell us," he said, dropping down heavily into the chair on the other side of Jess, "did Action Man get all confessional on you when you were down there?"

Jess wrinkled her brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You know," Connor explained, propping his feet up on the edge of Becker's bed, "like in the films when the hero thinks he and the pretty girl are about to die, so he tells her he loves her or whatever just in case?"

Jess felt her face begin to burn with embarrassment. "I don't- He didn't-"

"'Cause I always wonder," he continued, failing to notice Abby glaring warningly at him from behind Jess, "what happens later, you know, after they survive? Like, does he regret it? Did he really mean it? What happens now that he's stuck with her? How do you take something like that back? That's got to be an awkward conversation," he said thoughtfully, taking a long sip of tea.

Jess could feel tears welling up in her eyes. "Excuse me, she mumbled, jumping up and rushing out of her room before Abby or Connor could see them.

"Well done, Connor," she heard Abby scold him as she turned down the hallway.

She walked quickly with her head ducked down to avoid drawing attention to herself, Connor's words echoing in her head. She pushed past the nurses and doctors, ignoring their inquisitive looks and slipped into the first bathroom she found and locked the door behind her. She leaned heavily against the door, tipped her head back and allowed her tears to spill down her cheeks.

She was not upset with Connor. She knew he had not meant to upset her and would be horrified if he knew what his words had meant. He had only given voice to her own fears and insecurities that had been plaguing her since Becker had confessed he cared for her. No, she decided, he could not have truly meant it. He had been badly injured and had not known what he was saying. Perhaps, in the confusion of his mind, he had believed he was talking to someone else. Or maybe, as Connor had suggested, he had only confessed he cared for her because he believed he was going to die and had not meant it. He would most likely be terribly embarrassed as soon as he woke up, if he even remembered the conversation. She knew he would be kind to her about it. Becker was a gentleman, she reminded herself. As soon as he remembered what he had said, he would sit her down and explain that he had not meant it. She could already hear his voice explaining to her that they were coworkers and that he cared for her as a friend, but nothing more.

Yes, he would be kind. But his kindness would not make the blow of his rejection any softer or easier to accept. For one brief moment, she had allowed herself to believe his words and had begun to hope that they could have a future together.

She pushed herself away from the door and crossed the tiny room to check her face in the mirror before she returned to Becker's room.

"You're a silly girl, Jess Parker," she scolded herself sternly as she wiped the tears away from her eyes. "A silly girl with a silly crush."


	12. Waking

Chapter Twelve- Waking

Becker woke slowly, gradually becoming aware of the muffled sounds around him and the strong smell of ammonia. His mind was pleasantly hazy, a familiar feeling he had learned to associate with strong painkillers from the many injuries he had sustained over the course of his career. After several moments of reflecting on these discoveries, he came to the conclusion that he was in a hospital. He strained his memory, finding it to be surprisingly clear, and tried to remember how he could have ended up here. If he was in the hospital, then he and Jess must have been rescued from the rubble not long after he lost consciousness.

Jess.

If he had survived, she must have made it out all right as well. But where was she? His eyes flew open and he tried to sit up, causing his side to erupt in pain. He grit his teeth and raised his arm to grasp the side rail on the bed and groaned when he felt pain radiate across his chest in response to the movement. His vision swam before his eyes as his head began to pound, threatening to split in half if he did not stop moving. He gasped in a breath as he steeled his resolve and threw the blanket off of him, and swung his legs over the edge of the small bed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Emily demanded, striding into the room, flanked by two nurses.

"Jess," he said, grabbing the side rail for balance as he swayed on his feet. "Where is she? What happened?" he demanded.

One of the nurses grabbed his shoulders and firmly pushed him back into the bed as the other checked his IV bags.

"Jess is fine, Captain Becker; she sustained no serious injuries in the accident," Emily explained soothingly. "I'm sure she just stepped out for a moment."

"Why are you here?" Becker asked, trying not to sound rude. It wasn't that he was unhappy to see her, but he was surprised to wake and find her sitting by his bed rather than Jess or Matt. His head hurt and his mind was spinning from the combination of the medication and his injuries. "Where are the others?"

"Connor and Abby were sitting with you, but they stepped out to have a word with Matt and asked me to watch you. I thought you were waking up so I went to find some nurses to check on you."

"I need to see Jess," Becker said, pointedly ignoring the nurses' glares and continued struggling to stay upright.

"As soon as the doctor looks you over your friend can send her in," the first nurse said firmly. "Now, please, you must get back into bed. You're going to tear your stitches if you aren't careful."

"But-" Becker started to protest, quailing under the nurse's stern gaze and a sudden wave of fatigue and nausea.

"I've paged your doctor; he'll be here in a moment," the first nurse continued. "If you return to bed, I'll go look for your friends. There was quite a group of them waiting for you to wake up." She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to agree.

"Or, if you prefer, the nurses could put you in those restraints like you had me in when we first met and we can all wait for the doctor together," Emily said calmly, crossing her arms to make her point.

Becker glowered at her. "Fine," he muttered, collapsing heavily back onto his pillow, groaning loudly.

"A wise decision, captain."

As promised, the doctor arrived only a few moments later, shooing Emily from the room. After examining him quickly and determining that Becker had not damaged himself further in his outburst after waking, the doctor began explaining what he had missed since being pulled from the rubble of the construction site. The doctor had rambled on for several minutes, but Becker had long since stopped listening.

"Very lucky, indeed… major loss of blood, but we've managed to replace most of it… avoided any major damage," he heard the doctor say, "but you'll need to stay here for observation for at least another week before we discharge you."

"Wait, a week?" Becker asked, snapping back to reality. "That's not necessary; I'm fine to go home."

"It is not up for discussion, Captain Becker," the doctor said firmly, looking up at him over the rim of his glasses, "and I said a week at least. You need to take the time to let your body heal."

Becker rolled his eyes. "Fine. Can I see my cowork- my friends now?"

The doctor nodded. "Of course. For a few minutes only, though. You need to rest." He waited for Becker to acknowledge his instructions before nodding. "I'll send them in," he called over his shoulder.

Becker was exhausted and feeling the strong pull of the drugs the doctors had him on, but he forced himself to sit up straighter and focus. A few moments later there was a light knock on the door and a second later the Jess stepped through the doorway. He was both surprised and pleased to see that she had come alone, though he was worried at how pale and tired she looked. Her eyes were puffy and red as though she had been crying very recently and had not had the time to fix her makeup to cover it. He was so relieved to see her alive and well that he could not think of a single thing to say. Luckily, she began to speak first.

"Hi, Becker," she greeted him shyly with a small smile, standing next to his bed awkwardly. "You had us all very worried for a minute there. Me especially," she confessed with a nervous smile. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Sorry about that," he said finally, forcing himself out of his stupor. "I'm glad to see you're okay too."

She nodded and he noticed she tugged nervously on the long sleeves of her sweater to cover her hands.

"Becker, I don't know how much you remember about what happened, but…"

"I remember everything," he said quickly. "Or, most of everything. Some things are a bit hazy," he corrected himself, unsure of what she was thinking of specifically.

She nodded, her lips still smiling, but her eyes serious.

"Oh." He cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she ducked her head. "Well, then…." She took a step closer to his bed and lowered her voice to avoid being heard by anyone in the hall. "Becker, I just want you to know that I understand completely. You don't need to worry about anything. I don't expect anything from you. What you said, we don't ever have to talk about it again. In fact, it's probably best that we don't since we're friends and we work together and everything."

A sharp knock at the door interrupted her rant and she stepped back from the bed quickly.

"I should let you rest now. I'll, um, I'll try to come see you again later."

"Jess, I don't-"

"Feeling better, action man?" Connor interrupted loudly as he entered the room, followed closely by Abby and Matt. Becker winced at the sudden noise and Matt gestured for Connor to lower his voice. "Sorry, mate." Connor apologized, lowering his voice almost to a whisper. "How are you feeling?"

"I'll wait for you and Connor in the lobby, Abby," Jess said quickly, seizing her opportunity to escape and darting out of the room before anyone could question her actions.

If anyone else thought her behavior strange or worrisome, they did not show it as Abby simply nodded and called after her "We'll be down in a few minutes, Jess."

Connor picked up the chart from the end of Becker's bed and began absently flipping through it.

"The doctor told us you'll have to stay in the hospital for at least a week."

"I'm fine; there's no reason I can't go home now," he said sourly, suddenly wishing he was alone so he could think about what Jess had said.

"You got blown up, mate. You might want to stay for at least a couple of-" Connor suddenly broke off as he flipped back to the front of the file. "Becker," he said, looking at the file as though Christmas had come early, "your first name is Hil-"

"Finish that sentence, Connor, and you will never speak again."

Connor rolled his eyes, but quickly replaced the chart on the bed. "I'll humor you because you're injured."

"Think of it as a vacation, Becker," Abby said, trying her best to cheer him up. "It'll be a nice break from anomalies and creatures. Watch some telly, read a book, catch up on your sleep."

"I'm getting out of here the second those doctors turn their backs. I've escaped from far worse places," Becker said darkly.

"Sorry, mate, you're staying here," Matt said firmly, shaking his head. "Lester's authorized the use of lethal force to keep you in this bed until the doctor says you're good to go."

The doctor reentered the room and surveyed the group. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave now. Captain Becker has had major surgery and he needs to rest now. You may come visit him again tomorrow."

The group said their goodbyes and wished him luck, promising to visit again soon and bring him some things to keep him entertained, and left quickly before the doctor returned again.

Alone again for the first time in what felt like hours, Becker pondered over what Jess had told him. Clearly, he had not imagined telling her how he felt about her. And from her reaction, it had not been well-received. He must have imagined her telling him that

Emily followed Jess down to the lobby, insisting she was tired of waiting in the hallway and needed to stretch her legs, though Jess suspected she had something to say and was waiting until they were alone to say it.

"I think I'll go home and sleep for a month," Jess said, looking at the clock in the lobby.

"I'm sure you will feel better after some sleep and something to eat," Emily said, patting her shoulder gently.

"Maybe…" Jess murmured. She hoped that Becker had understood what she was trying to tell him and would not bring up the issue again. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that Connor had been right and that Becker could not possibly have meant what he said.

"Jess, are you all right?" she heard Emily ask. "You seem distracted. Did something happen when you spoke with Becker?"

"I've had a bit of a hard day, actually," Jess answered, much more harshly than she really meant. She was tired of people asking if she was all right. She was tired of questions. Her hands were hurting terrible and she just wanted to go home, crawl into bed, and possibly never come out.

"Of course," Emily apologized, taking a step back. "I understand. Please let me know if you need anything."

Jess was saved from having to apologize for her behavior by Abby and Connor arriving. She nodded to Emily once, and then joined her flat mates as they exited the hospital and went home.

Five days passed in the flat Jess shared with Abby and Connor with very little activity. After returning home from the ARC, Abby and Connor sat together in the kitchen preparing tea and debating what to order for dinner. Connor was half-engrossed in looking over some reports he had brought home from his lab, making it too easy for Abby to convince him to order what she wanted.

"Jess has barely come out of her room since we got home from the hospital," Abby commented, casting a glance at her closed room door as they waited for their tea to cool enough to drink.

"Well, she just had a bit of a traumatic experience," Connor said vaguely. "I imagine she wants to be alone for a bit."

"Yes, but she hasn't even been back to the hospital to visit Becker. That's very unlike her," Abby continued.

"I don't know… Maybe she just wants him to focus on getting better," Connor said absently, completely lost in the papers laid out in front of him.

"Or maybe someone said something that upset her," Abby shot back, glaring pointedly at him. Her tone immediately caught his attention, and his head snapped up guiltily as she continued. "Something about people confessing feelings under dire circumstances?"

Connor shrugged helplessly. "How was I to know anything might have happened?"

"Have you met Jess and Becker? They're obviously in love with each other and they just haven't figured it out yet. They thought they were going to die. Of course one of them would have said something. Or have you forgotten the time you professed your love for me when I was dangling off a cliff?"

"I could talk to her, if you thi-"

"No," Abby said firmly. "I think you're done talking for a while, Connor. I'll talk to her. She'll tell me what's wrong," she finished confidently. Abby had decided earlier that afternoon that it was time for her to intervene, not only to repair whatever damage her boyfriend might have unwittingly caused, but also because she cared about Jess as a friend and could not bear to see her so obviously upset.

"So… how are you going to get it out of her?" Connor asked meekly, handing her his biscuit as a peace offering.

"Ice cream, wine, a chick flick, and brute force if I have to."

Connor raised an eyebrow. "You really think that'll work?"

"Connor, this is what girlfriends do. They torture information out of one another and then fix each other's lives. Now make yourself scarce tonight and I'll catch you up on everything tomorrow."


	13. Time Out

Chapter Thirteen- Time Out

Becker decided he had not truly known boredom before his stay in the hospital. There had been times when he had grown tired of the monotony of life, or listless because of the lack of action, but he had never experienced the truly mind-numbing ennui of his confinement. He had been injured before- more times than he cared to count- but his recovery had never required an extended stay in the hospital. The doctors insisted it was necessary to keep him under close observation to look for signs of infection or further complications from his injuries. He suspected they were also under orders from Lester to keep a close watch over him lest he attempt an escape. By the third day, he was begging Matt to help him break out. He really thought he might have succeeded, too, if his doctor had not chosen that moment to stop by and "check up" on him and warn him against such action. The threat of being put in isolation with no visitors if he did not behave himself was enough to put an end to those plans, if somewhat begrudgingly on Becker's part.

Becker was tired of hearing how lucky he had been. He was tired of nurses fussing over him and insisting that he could do nothing for himself. He was tired of the terrible food and the bed checks and the infuriatingly snobbish doctors. More than anything, he just wanted to go home to his flat and sleep in his own bed.

He had plenty of visitors to keep him company during his stay. Either Connor or Abby stopped by to see him each day after work for a brief visit. Lester had even come by twice to get Becker's official statement for his report to the minister and to order him to follow the doctors' instructions. Becker had offered several times to come back into work if Lester was having trouble managing the security personnel only to be informed that the ARC had gotten along just fine without him before he came along and would find some way to carry on in his brief absence.

Matt, however, had quickly become his most frequent (and most welcome) visitor during his confinement. Once or twice he even brought Emily along who was fascinated by the marvels of modern medicine and questioned the doctors and nurses endlessly about everything she saw, much to Becker's amusement. More often Matt came alone, sneaking off during his lunch break or when he had nothing better to do at the ARC than paperwork. He kept Becker updated on the situation at the ARC, how his men were getting along without him, and the continuing search for Ethan. Becker was also relieved that Matt seemed to know enough not to pry about anything that might have happened between him and Jess and never mentioned their previous conversation.

But the one person Becker really wanted to see never came to visit him. He could not figure out how to ask any of the others why she had not visited him without arousing suspicion and unwelcome questions. Admittedly his memory of their time spent buried was a bit hazy in some places, but his memories of their final conversation, at the end of which he had confessed some of his feelings for her, was clear. He remembered nearly every word that had been said in somewhat embarrassingly vivid detail. He was still unsure if he had really heard her tell him that she loved him in return or if he had been hallucinating by that point. But judging from her lack of visits, he had to assume it had been in his imagination. What was more likely, he decided, was that she had listened patiently to his declaration of love out of compassion, pity, and a desire to keep him awake and was now uncomfortable being around him.

His time alone in the hospital had, at the very least, afforded him plenty of time to think about Jess' words. No one had ever dared to call him out on his behavior in the field before. And she was right- he took risks he would never have allowed his men or the team to take as a result of his guilt over past events. No matter how many times he heard it, he still had difficulty accepting that others did not hold him accountable for those tragedies as he did.

Finally, the day of his release came. The doctors had determined that he had healed enough to leave the hospital and go home, though he would not be allowed to return to work for any reason for at least several more weeks. Though Becker personally felt that he could return to active duty much sooner than that, both the doctors and Lester were insistent that he take the extra time to rest and heal before putting himself at risk again. The nurse had brought him his discharge papers early that morning and Becker had refused to let them out of his sight since, as though he feared they might change their minds about allowing him to leave.

Connor and Abby came to visit him over their lunch break to make sure he had made arrangements with someone to take him home when he was discharged and to bring him a fresh set of street clothes to wear.

"You're not going to take a cab home are you?" Abby asked. "Connor and I have to work, but Jess might be able to-"

"Matt said he would be happy to pick me up," Becker answered quickly. Abby raised her eyebrows at his hasty reply. "Speaking of," Becker began, trying to sound casual, "how is Jess? Is she all right? I haven't seen her since my first night here."

"She's fine, doing well," Connor assured him quickly. "Bit bored, really. She can't use the computer very well on account of her hands still being bandaged up, so she's going a bit stir crazy. Lester has her on forced medical leave for another week before he'll even consider letting her come back to work. I think her hands are the only thing that's stopped her from hacking into the ARC computers from the flat to keep an eye on all of us at work."

"Her hands?" Becker asked in confusion. "What happened to her hands? I thought she wasn't hurt."

"She wasn't- not seriously, anyway. She cut them up pretty bad and had to have stitches. She said it happened while she was trying to signal us- right before we found you."

Becker nodded, remembering how Jess had kept the sleeves of her sweater pulled down over her hands the only time he had seen her. He would have to ask her about that later if he got the chance.

"Yeah, speaking of Jess…" Abby said looking meaningfully at Connor.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Abby and Connor met eyes. Becker rolled his eyes, always annoyed when the couple had one of their "silent conversations," as Jess called them, in front of him. Connor shook his head slightly, as if disagreeing with whatever Abby was telling him and she threw up her hands in frustration.

"Quit stalling." Abby pushed Connor towards the bed. "Go on," she threatened, "tell him what you did."

Becker turned his full attention to Connor. "What did you do?"

Connor turned scarlet and ducked his head to avoid Becker's gaze. "I wasn't trying to-" He mumbled under his breath, carefully examining the cuffs of his sleeves.

Abby sighed in frustration and cut him off. "Connor asked Jess if you confessed any feelings for her while the two of you were trapped down there and then assured her that you probably didn't mean anything you might have said, considering your injuries and the situation."

Becker felt his face turning red. "She told you about all that, then?"

Abby nodded. "It took a lot of questioning, and a fair amount of wine, but she finally told me everything last night."

Becker turned back to Connor and glared dangerously at him. "And that's why she hasn't been to see me since I woke up?"

"Quite… possibly. Yeah," Connor admitted nervously, shuffling his feet awkwardly.

"Connor, when I get better, I am going to hurt you."

"Oh, go wait outside," Abby ordered, giving him a light shove toward the door. Connor gave Becker another terrified glance before retreating to the safety of the hallway. "Now," Abby said, sitting down in one of the chairs, propping her feet up on the edge of the bed and leaning back to survey Becker, "like I said: Jess told me everything."

"Abigail," Becker warned, not feeling up for one of her lectures. Even though she had not known her for very long, Abby was very protective of Jess, and Becker knew she would take her side. Not that he could blame her, he thought sullenly. Somehow he knew this whole mess was completely his fault. "This is really none of your business."

"Well, I'm making it my business." She held up a hand to silence him before he could shoot off a sarcastic remark. "Did you mean what you said?"

He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms stubbornly. "Did I mean what, exactly?"

"It's no use trying to play dumb. Jess told me that you said you love her."

He hesitated, considering the situation and weighing his odds of escape before nodding mutely.

"Becker. Do. You. Love. Jess?" Abby asked again, carefully emphasizing each word.

He averted his eyes to stare intently at the rail of his bed before nodding curtly.

He glanced back up at Abby to see her reaction to his silent admission and was surprised to see her smiling knowingly at him.

"Then you should tell her that. Soon. Before she has any more time for her imagination to run away with her."

"Abby, she hasn't come to visit me. I tried calling her a few times but she didn't answer her phone. I think it's pretty obvious she doesn't want to talk to me right now."

"She does want to talk to you," Abby explained. "She's just afraid of what you're going to tell her. Whether you like it or not- whether you've noticed or not- Jess has had feelings for you for a very long time. If nothing had ever happened between you, they might never have gone away. But now she thinks you're about to break her heart and end her fantasy and she can't handle it."

Becker wanted to believe her, but found if difficult to accept that he might still have a chance with Jess. "Still, how am I supposed to talk to her if she-"

She held up her hand again to cut him off.

"My understanding is that you're soon to be a free man, Becker," she said, motioning to the discharge papers on the bed beside him. She stood and walked to the door, pausing in the doorway before turning back to face him. "Connor and I won't be home until late tonight, so Jess will have the apartment all to herself. Just something to keep in mind." She winked at the slightly stunned expression on his face and then disappeared.

"Go on, you can say it," Connor groaned, running his hands through his hair in frustration, making it stand on end, as Abby joined him in the hall. "I'm an idiot."

"You're an idiot," she agreed with a nod. She smiled at his crestfallen expression and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "But you're my idiot. Becker will sort it all out, you'll see. He's crazy about Jess and he's not going to let your big mouth mess that up." She smiled at him again and wrapped her arm around his waist. "Now, come on. I promised Becker we'd be out late tonight. You can buy me dinner after work." She laughed at how his eyes lit up at the mention of food and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her out of the hospital.


	14. Happiness

Chapter Fourteen- Happiness

Becker had been standing in front of the door to her flat for nearly five minutes trying to work up the nerve to knock. Matt had seemed completely unfazed by Becker's request to be dropped off at Jess' flat rather than his own when he picked him up from the hospital that afternoon. The only comment he made was a knowing smirk, a wink, and a promise to return for him if things did not go well.

"This is ridiculous," he muttered quietly to himself as he raised his hand to knock only to drop it to his side again for the sixth time in a row. He could not remember being this nervous before in his life, not even in armed combat. In fact, he would much rather have had to fight someone at that moment than he would admit his feelings to Jess. Of course, he suspected that if he gave into his fears and retreated in defeat, he might actually have to defend himself against Abby the next time he saw her. He did not fancy his odds against her when she was properly angry, especially in his current condition. His head hurt. His side hurt. He was groggy from the medication that had been forced on him all week. All he really wanted to do was go back to his flat, take a handful of painkillers and pass out for a few days. But he also knew that if he did not talk to Jess now, he might never do it, and that was simply not an option. Steeling his nerves, he raised his fist once again and knocked three times.

He listened intently for any movement inside the apartment and wondered if she was even home. Abby could have been wrong about Jess' plans. Perhaps she had felt well enough to go out with friends or visit her family, in which case he had gone through all that inner turmoil for nothing. However, after several tense moments, he heard soft footsteps approaching the door and a moment later it swung open.

"Becker?" Jess looked confused and surprised at his sudden appearance at her flat. "What are you doing here?"

He had to force himself to keep from grinning at her appearance. Apparently Jess took dressing for her sick days just as seriously as she did dressing for work. She was wearing long pajama bottoms covered in brightly-colored cupcakes with a matching tank top, a bright pink bathrobe, and fuzzy slippers. Her face was free of makeup and she wore her hair down around her shoulders, which made her look even younger than usual.

"Becker?" he heard her ask again and she took a step toward him with a concerned expression on her face. "Is everything all right?"

He snapped out of his reverie, realizing that he had been staring at her without saying anything since she opened the door.

"Right, sorry," he apologized quickly. "Everything is fine. I just wanted to see you- to talk to you," he corrected himself hastily. "About… you know… Could I come in?" he finished awkwardly. He really did not want to have this conversation standing out in the hallway where any of her neighbors could walk out and overhear them talking.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, as though she had temporarily forgotten where they were standing. "Yes, of course!" Please, come in." She stepped back to allow him entrance to her flat.

As he stepped into the front hall of her apartment, he was suddenly struck by the fact that he had never been there before. He took a moment to take in his surroundings; it was just as he might have imagined it to be (not that he had ever spent any time imagining her flat)- colorful, quirky, and very, very organized. He could immediately identify the clutter piled on top of the kitchen table as Connor's- according to Lester, clutter was one of the many hazards of living with Connor.

"Sorry it's a bit of a mess," she apologized as she rounded the corner ahead of him, disappearing from his view. "I haven't felt much like cleaning the past few days, and anyway, Connor's things always seem to return within hours of me putting them away, so…" Her eyes lit on an object on the counter. "Oh, I almost forgot- I have your flashlight," she said, motioning to it.

"Keep it." He answered. "I'd hate for you to get caught in the dark again without one."

"Oh. Thank you."

He nodded to her hands. "Connor told me you were hurt. What happened?"

She hastily tried to pull the sleeves of her bathrobe down to cover her bandaged hands. "It's nothing, honestly," she said quickly. "There was a lot of broken glass, you know. The doctor said he would take the stitches out in a day or so."

"Right. Good," he said awkwardly.

"Um, can I get you anything?" she asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Tea? Coffee? Water? Juice? I'm not really sure what we have in; Connor did the shopping last night and I haven't looked at what he bought yet," she babbled nervously, flitting about the kitchen, opening random cabinets as she spoke. "I could make you something if you're hungry, or we could order something in." She blushed furiously, whirling back to face him. "Not that you're staying long. I'm sure you want to go home and rest. Unless you want to stay, I mean, you're perfectly welcome to, I'd like you to, I just-"

Becker sad down on a barstool behind the counter and allowed her to continue her nervous rant, knowing from experience she would run out of things to saw eventually if he left her alone long enough. Besides, it gave him an extra few moments to collect his thoughts and things about what he was going to say. He turned his full attention back to Jess as she continued to babble, sensing her rant was coming to an end. She was looking at him with a concerned expression again as if something had just occurred to her.

"You just got out of the hospital, didn't you? Abby mentioned you were going to be released today. Are you feeling all right? Why didn't you go home to rest? Did you take your medication?" She sucked in a deep breath of air as she fiddled absently with the edge of one of the bandages on her hands. "Becker," she began slowly, "Becker, why are you here?"

He took a deep breath and stood, wincing slightly as he pulled the stitches in his side with the movement and crossed the kitchen to stand a few feet in front of her. He found he had no idea what to do with his hands, finally settling for crossing them awkwardly over his chest.

"I missed seeing you at the hospital," he said, remembering his carefully rehearsed speech he had worked on which waiting to be discharged.

Jess's blush deepened more than he would have considered possible.

"Yes, well, you were… and I was… after that night… I didn't know what to say," she finished in a voice barely above a whisper, now focusing all her attention on her bandaged hands, nervously picking at the frayed edges. "You'd been so distant for the past few weeks before the… the thing that happened and I thought you were upset with me and then…"

"Jess, I wasn't upset with you. That night in Ethan's flat scared me. I thought you would be safer if you stayed away from me."

"I'm a big girl, Becker," she said. "I don't need you to make decisions for me about my safety."

"I worry about you, Jess. That isn't going to change."

She nodded grudgingly and he took that as his signal to continue.

"I talked to Connor and Abby today," he said, hoping his voice sounded calmer than he felt. "Well, mostly Abby. Lester should consider letting her run interrogations from time to time. She can be absolutely terrifying when she wants to me," he joked, trying desperately to ease the tension In the room. There was no change in the expression on Jess's face, so he swallowed and continued awkwardly. "Anyway, they told me why you hadn't been to see me at the hospital since that first night."

Jess flushed with embarrassment again. "I-"

He held up a hand to cut her off before she took off on another nervous rant. He remembered Abby's words from the hospital and now, looking at Jess, he knew that she had been right. Jess had expected that he had come here tonight to take back what he had said. He wanted to say what he had come to say before he lost his nerve and before Jess could jump to any more conclusions.

"Jess, it's fine," he reassured her, "and I understand. I want- I need- to talk to you about what happened. And what I said."

She nodded slowly, still avoiding his gaze and biting her lower lip, he suspected to keep herself from interrupting him again.

He took another shaky breath in. He wished he had spent more time practicing his speech, but it did not matter now. It was amazing how much more difficult it was to speak about his feelings here in the safety of her well-lit kitchen rather than bleeding to death under a collapsed building.

"I want you to know," he began, "that I meant everything I said. I didn't say it because I was trying to make you feel better or because I had lost a lot of blood. I said it because I wanted you to know how I feel about you if I died, and I meant every word."

Her eyes grew wider as she listened to his speech and he hoped he was not making a fool of himself. Surely if she had been upset, it was because she felt something for him too. He was struck by the insane fear that perhaps he had imagined the whole thing, that Abby had been wrong about why Jess had been upset and that she was really more concerned that his confession would ruin their friendship.

"So, I want to be clear this time: Jess, you are the most brilliant woman I have ever met. You are beautiful, funny, brave, kind, and a million other adjectives I can't think of right now. I spend inappropriate amounts of time thinking about you. If I don't talk to you every day, I miss you. I tried to push you away because I wanted you to be safe, but I don't think I can do that anymore."

By this point she was staring at him as though he had lost his mind, but it was too late to stop now.

"Unless… if you don't feel the same, I'll completely understand. You deserve… well, you deserve someone better than me," he said desperately, wishing she would say something. "And I know I don't deserve you. After everything that's happened, I don't know if I deserve to be happy or not. I just know that without you in my life, I never could be. And… I love you, Jessica."

Jess had been silent as she listened to Becker's speech, staring at him in utter disbelief. The whole situation was completely absurd. If she wasn't living it now, she was certain she would not believe it had ever happened. She had never heard Becker speak this much- not ever. Even at briefings, he kept his speeches short and to the point. He was a man who did not waste words so the things he did say meant that much more. She was not sure she could even believe it was happening now, but she certainly wasn't going to let this opportunity pass her by if it might never come again.

She took a step forward and threw her arms around his shoulders, carefully minding his still mending injuries, and pulled his mouth down to hers in a passionate kiss.

She was as surprised by her actions as Becker was, judging from his momentary hesitation before wrapping his arms around her waist, but she could not stop herself. Here he was, standing in her kitchen, alive and on the mend, telling her he loved her. It was like something out of a fairy tale. Perhaps a slightly cheesy, awkward fairy tale that had far too many dinosaurs and far too few opportunities for wearing fancy gowns, but it was hers.

After what felt like hours, they broke apart to catch their breath.

"Can I safely assume from that display that you might be harboring some affection for me as well?" Becker asked, their faces just inches apart

She giggled breathlessly before answering, "No, Becker. I love you. Too. I love you, too. I have been in love with you since the day I met you and it's about time you caught up."

"Oh. Well, good," he said, relief washing over his face before flashing her a rare, heartfelt smile. "Excellent. That would have been incredibly embarrassing otherwise."

"So… what happens now?" she asked, biting her lip nervously.

He pretended to think for a moment before answering. "Well, I can think of a few things…"

She raised an eyebrow at him innocently. "Why, Captain Becker, that's very forward of you. Whatever could you be suggesting? "

He cleared his throat and took a step back. "Things like dinner. There should definitely be dinner involved."

She shrugged and reached for him again. "Eventually."


	15. Epilogue- The End?

Epilogue- The End?

Jess could not remember the last time she had been so content with her life. She was alive and on the mend, she and Becker were finally together, and she was back at work. Well, she corrected herself sternly, to be more precise, she was visiting work. That morning over the phone Lester had forbidden her to return to work for at least another week, tersely explaining that she needed to take the time to fully recover before coming back to work because he needed her at one hundred percent as soon as possible and not a minute sooner. "And you may as well enjoy it while you can," he had added sternly, "it's not likely I'll be granting you more time off for a holiday anytime soon anyway." However, after several minutes of pleading, he had granted that she could come in for a few hours to ensure that Connor and the relief field coordinator who had taken her place did not destroy her system and files in her absence. She had been locked up in her flat moping for so long without a change of scenery that the ARC was a more than welcome distraction.

Unfortunately, her visit had not been without challenges- two challenges, in fact. Her interfering flat mates had done nothing but question her since she had arrived at the ARC some two hours earlier. Connor had appeared first at her workstation, on the pretense of updating some of the ADD's systems and hardware, and had been joined shortly thereafter by Abby, who had long since abandoned any pretense of having a good reason to be there except for grilling Jess.

"Come on, Jess," Connor wheedled from his position lying prone on the floor under her desk as he inspected the complicated wiring. "You can't just mention over breakfast that Becker stopped by last night and not tell us everything that happened."

"He only stopped by to say hello," Jess answered shiftily, avoiding the question and pretending to focus intently on the computer screen in front of her. "Why is that so strange?"

"Because," Connor argued, propping himself up on one elbow to face her, "prior to last night, I would have bet Rex, Sid and Nancy, and a year's pay that, while I'm sure Soldier Boy knows where each of us lives for 'security purposes,' that he would never pay a social call to any of us unless Lester ordered him to assassinate one of us."

"Don't be so dramatic, Connor," Jess commented airily as her screens flickered ominously. "And pay attention to what you're supposed to be doing, please."

"We've been working on this all day, Jess," Abby said, feigning greater ignorance than she possessed. "Matt must have dropped him off at the flat after he picked him up from the hospital- so what happened after that? I saw takeaway containers in the trash. Did you have dinner together?"

"Why don't you ask Matt if you think he knows so much? Or Becker for that matter?"

"Matt threatened to shoot Connor if he didn't stop pestering him this morning and he's too scared to ask Becker himself."

"Oh, so I'm the weakest link in the great conspiracy of Becker visiting me?"

"Yes," Abby answered bluntly. "So you may as well give up now and tell us the whole story."

"I already told you," Jess answered calmly, angling her chair away from Abby to hide the slight upturn of her lips. It wasn't often she had any gossip worthy of this level of interest and she was secretly enjoying the attention. But she was not sure how comfortable Becker really was with everyone knowing about their relationship yet and she did not want to give away the game. "Yes, Becker came by the flat last night and we talked. There's really not much to tell."

"There's loads to tell and you're being a complete jerk about it," Abby groaned bitterly, crossing her arms. "You know I'll get the truth out of you eventually, so you might as well tell me now." She leaned in a bit closer to Jess's chair and dropped her voice half an octave. "After all, you kind of owe me: I'm the one who stopped Connor from looking in your bedroom when we got home late last night to see if you were alone or not," Abby said, earning a horrified look from Jess. "You owe me details."

Jess pursed her lips, shooting Connor, who was carefully avoiding looking at her, a dirty look. "Well, if you really must know, Becker and I-"

"Are you ready to go, Jess?" Becker asked as he appeared over Abby's shoulder, making her jump guiltily. Connor cursed loudly as he bashed his head against the bottom of Jess's desk in surprise.

"Just one minute," she answered, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "Connor, do you think you can finish up here on your own?"

"Well, I could use the help if you-" he started to say before Abby poked his ribs with the toe of her boot, a little harder than she had meant. "Ow. Um, I'm good. I guess?" he finished, looking back up at Abby questioningly.

"You two doing some more field work?" Abby asked, ignoring Connor's query. "Chasing triceratops through an abandoned mine shaft, perhaps?" She fixed Becker with a stern glare, silently demanding that he give her some hint as to how things had worked out between him and Jess after her intervention. "I thought you weren't allowed back at work for another month- and that's if Lester's feeling generous."

"Three weeks, actually, and we both know I'll be back in two. I just came to pick Jess up since her car was destroyed and the insurance hasn't replaced it yet," Becker said, staring Abby down. "I thought we might get dinner on the way home, if you're hungry, Jess," he asked, the corners of his mouth twitching into a quick smile as he shifted his gaze to her.

"That would be lovely," she said, smiling broadly at the fact that he had hinted at their relationship to Abby and Connor first. She turned quickly to log out of the computer and pack up her laptop.

"And then I think we'll be stopping off at the hardware store to buy a lock for Jess's bedroom door," Becker added a bit louder, pointedly stepping on Connor's hand as he leaned forward on the pretense of looking more closely at one of the HUD's screens. "For security purposes."

Connor cursed again as he snatched his hand back and hit his head against the desk again in his rush to sit up and face Becker. "What? No, Abby was just joking about all that- I wouldn't- I didn't- I was…"

"I'll see you two back at home," Jess said quickly, preferring not to think about Connor peeking in on her while she was sleeping or… otherwise engaged at night. "

Becker and Jess set off toward the door together, carefully keeping a respectable distance between themselves.

Abby turned to Connor, who was still massaging his injured hand, and grinned. "I told you they would work it out. Now pay up."

Connor sighed dramatically as he jumped to his feet and pulled a ten-pound note from his pocket, slapping it into Abby's outstretched hand. "You had insider information- it wasn't a fair bet."

"Thank you very much," she said, winking as she tucked it into her bag.

"Double or nothing they'll be engaged by the end of the year?" Connor asked, rubbing his hands together greedily.

Abby considered the wager for a moment, watching as Jess and Becker disappeared around the corner, linking arms as soon as they thought they were out of sight, before replying: "A year? I give them six months. You're on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank my wonderful beta (my sister) for all her help writing this story. Honestly, she should probably get about 50% of the credit for anything good that turned up in this story. Thanks for putting up with my crazy ramblings and hysterical phone calls over verb usage.


End file.
